Ontario’s Stratford Festival “currently has the ruddy bloom of financial fitness in its cheeks.” But Richard Ouzounian writes that “a distressing number of voices feel that its artistic arteries are clogged to the danger point.”
Tag: 10.09.05
Scots Look Enviously At Welsh Opera
While Scottish Opera languishes, the Welsh National Opera thrives artistically. What’s the difference? “It is simply the fact that good-quality opera is not something that can be done cheaply and cannot be done with uncertainty over year-to-year financing, which is what we have had. In opera, we have to think at least three years ahead when we book people and organise our events. When we don’t know from year to year how much money we are going to have, we can’t plan properly. In Wales, they make it a priority.”
TV – The Modern Movie PR Machine
“Kissed off by critics as a sad emblem of the state of modern journalism – loud, jaggedly edited amalgams of gossipy supermarket tabloid and studio press release – shows like “Access Hollywood” and “Entertainment Tonight” have nonetheless never been more important to the marketing of Hollywood, and have never had more competition. At a time when high-profile movies can live or die on the strength of their opening weekend, such shows offer a big potential audience – an average of 3.2 million viewers a night for “Access,” 6.7 million for “E.T.” – as well as a prized commodity in Hollywood: free exposure.”
What’s Missing In Our Great Cities
“For decades now, we have been witnessing the slow, ruthless dismantling of America’s urban infrastructure. The crumbling levees in New Orleans are only the most conspicuous evidence of this decline: it’s evident everywhere, from Amtrak’s aging track system to New York’s decaying public school buildings. Rather than confront the causes of that deterioration, we are encouraged to overlook it, lost in a cloud of tourist distractions like casinos, convention centers, spruced-up historic quarters and festival marketplaces. The inadequacy of that vision has now become glaringly obvious. And the problem cannot simply be repaired with reinforcement bars or dabs of cement. Instead, our decision makers will have to face up to what our cities have become, and why. The great American cities of the early 20th century were built on the vision of its engineers, not just architects…”
Marin Alsop, Conductor
She talks about the stresses after her controversial appointment to lead the Baltimore Symphony. ” ‘It was a very trying and stressful experience in many ways. To be perfectly honest, my initial reaction, when it all started, was to run: ‘Gosh, who needs this?’ She described a candid private meeting with the whole orchestra at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, the orchestra’s home, before she appeared at a news conference on July 20. She wanted to look the musicians in the eye, she said, before signing the contract. She told the players she needed to get over her own hard feelings. By her account, she made it clear to them that she had already been hesitating about taking the job, given the orchestra’s large debt and poor attendance. At the same time, she praised the players as part of a gifted and deeply musical orchestra.”
Are “Accessible” Translations Up To The Job?
New translations of classics try to make work accessible to today’s readers. “The question, though – and it’s always a question now when it comes to translating the classics – is whether it is not too friendly to accommodate the difficulties of the original. This is a matter of fiery debate in the arts nowadays.”
Sprucing Up Security
A few years ago Washington DC got uglier, littered with hideous concrete barriers put in place to protect buildings from terrorist attack. But new designs incorporating security are proving that security can be attractive. “Ingeniously, the architects combined benches with that tired staple of curbside security, the heavy flower pot, to make the basic, repeating unit of their design. Measuring about 9 feet long by 4 feet wide by 3 1/2 feet high, this clean-lined unit looks very solid. Yet it is unquestionably attractive.”
Vettriano – Art? Really? (But The Public Loves Him)
“Last week the long-running debate contrasting Jack Vettriano’s lack of critical acclaim with his public popularity was reignited by the revelation that The Singing Butler was, in fact, inspired by a £16.99 artists’ reference manual. Long derided by critics, Vettriano has fought artistic battles before. The art establishment is distinctly sniffy about his work. Despite his huge popular appeal, no national gallery shows his paintings. Reference works either ignore him or grant passing mention, but there is a voracious public appetite for both his romantic early paintings and later works which focus more on the highly charged sexual atmosphere of human relationships.”
Elementary Watson! It’s the Buildings
“Sherlock Holmes is renowned for his groundbreaking forensic technique. But crucial to Arthur Conan Doyle’s storytelling are the vivid descriptions of late Victorian and Edwardian London, indoors and out. They set the scene for the grisly goings-on in the foggy East End and the murky manoeuvrings of the better-bred in the city’s west. They contain clues to help the reader solve the crime. And they give us insight into the complex inner world Holmes the man. Doyle is a must-read for budding architects.”
Canadian Network To Telecast Gillers
CTV has picked up national broadcast of Canada’s Giller Prize for literature. “The winner this year will be announced at a black-tie gala in Toronto Nov. 8, during a one-hour telecast live on CTV Newsnet. Three repeat airings will take place on the main network – after midnight, the following afternoon and the following weekend. In the past the Giller was broadcast on CBC and CHUM’s Bravo and Book Television specialty channels.”