James Fox: “Some of my students apparently wrote to the BBC, asking it to employ me as a new arts presenter. I knew nothing of this note, but a year later I received an email out of the blue from the BBC arts commissioner inviting me to go in for a meeting. I went, clueless, of course. A few months later I was out filming my first programme.”
Tag: 12.08.11
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Only TV Musical Finally Headed For Broadway
Cinderella, the only work the pair created specifically for television, first aired in 1957 with Julie Andrews in the title role. The piece has since been staged many times in the US and abroad (including at New York City Opera), but never on Broadway – until next season.
Matthew Bourne On Where He Gets His Imagery
“Not coming from a classical ballet background has been really good for me … My early loves were film and theatre and that’s really where I get all of my imagery from. And … I think it connects with audiences in a much stronger way because of that.”
The Story Of The Scrapheap Orchestra
“Driven by the idea that we take the highly evolved sound of an orchestra for granted, [the BBC] challenged skilled instrument-makers to recreate the sections of the orchestra with nothing but freely available junk. They then challenged the BBC Concert Orchestra to get a beautiful sound from this wreckage, and asked Charles Hazlewood to conduct them in a Prom.”
Video Advertising Grows Despite Economy Downturn
“Companies that own and operate other forms of media are making presentations, but television looks to be having a moment, in large part because marketers remain keen on buying commercial time during video programming despite the uncertain outlook for the economy.”
Should Musicians Write Off Spotify? (Not So Fast)
“Interestingly, early indications suggest that about 80% of digital revenue for record labels in Sweden will come from Spotify. And digital is fast heading to half of all revenue generated by recorded music – with physical CD and vinyl sales accounting for the rest.”
Art Of The Deal – Iran, The US, And Two Masterpieces
It was a tricky and clandestine deal that settled the exchange of a de Kooning and an Islamic masterpiece.
Planned Arts Center For New York’s Ground Zero Area In Limbo Yet Again
“The fate of a performing arts center slated to be designed by Frank Gehry for the World Trade Center site is in limbo as its boosters await the creation of a board of directors necessary for $100 million in funding.”
How A Glass Magnate Traded A 16th-Century Persian Manuscript For A De Kooning
“Two utterly disparate artworks now on view in Manhattan – a centuries-old masterpiece and a modernist grotesque of immense price – are linked by a history that has remained largely in the shadows.”
Turn Central Park Into A Giant Musical Landscape? Now There’s An App For That
“Clamp on headphones, start up the iPhone app by the musical duo Bluebrain and walk into Central Park. The music does not begin until you pass through an entrance and head into the trees. Then it sounds like an orchestra tuning up, a chaotic jumble of wind chimes, electronic moans and discordant strings. Push farther into the park, and a sweet violin melody emerges over languid piano chords.”