Tan Dun’s “The First Emperor,” Placido Domingo’s first world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, comes at a highly productive time in the legendary tenor’s career. “But Domingo, despite an almost unrivaled longevity, also knows that the end will come someday. … ‘Right now for me it’s a mystery of how long I’m going to sing,’ ” he said. ” ‘I have about three or four new operas I will still be doing. It’s exciting. But I’m 65 now; I’ll be very surprised if I will be singing opera when I’m 70. Perhaps I’ll do concerts, but I don’t think operas.’ “
Tag: 12.10.06
World’s Oldest Record Store In Danger
“Spillers Records in the centre of Cardiff is officially acknowledged as the world’s oldest music store by Guinness World Records. Now its future is uncertain – and some of the world’s biggest stars are being asked to back a campaign to keep it open.”
London’s West End In Song
“This year singing shows have been the West End’s theatrical success story. Straight theatre productions have closed early but musicals are booked up way into 2007. Since the beginning of 2006 there have been 20 new musical productions in the West End.”
Killing Innovation – One Theatre’s Demise
Brighton’s Gardner Arts Centre is a model of clever interesting programming, but it’s closing because of money worries. “Thanks largely to the experience, intuition and artistic courage of the venue’s programmer, Claire Soper, the Gardner has built a first-class reputation. It stands for all that an arts venue should be – risk taking, finding and supporting the next Mark Ravenhill or Peter Brook. Its loss will be a calamity, not only for Brighton and Hove, but for the UK’s arts industry as a whole.”
Backlash Over Looted Art Claims
“Seventy years after the Nazis stole their property, a new wave of Jewish families is winning back valuable artefacts in Germany and Austria. What was once a trickle of successful claims has become a flood. But now there is a backlash. German politicians and museum directors are expressing fears about the break-up of key collections and, after years of recognising the moral rights of claimants, are questioning the motives of those pursuing the claims.”
Zeffirelli Returns To La Scala
It’s been 14 years since director Franco Zeffirelli worked at the opera house, and the buzz was considerable. “Tickets reserved for sale online for all 11 showings of Aida sold out in a record two hours. One of the season’s most-anticipated cultural events, Aida attracted an audience of leading political, business and cultural figures — among them Italian Premier Romano Prodi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as his guest.”
Breakthrough – Hollywood’s New Leading Men
“In the past two years, black actors have been making bold artistic strides. Not since the ’70s, when actors like Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty took a hands-on interest in filmmaking, has such a talented bunch of performers delivered such varied, impressive work in a range of movies.”
When Classical Musicians Were Stars
“Today, thanks to CDs, DVDs, podcasts and downloads, we have access to more classical music, at our fingertips, than the most visionary composer of the 1970s could have imagined. But the notion of the classical-music composer as a major celebrity was pretty much buried with Britten. Thirty years ago, last Monday.”
Ten Best Recordings Of 2006?
John von Rhen makes his choices of the year’s best…
How Basel Miami Got To Be America’s Largest Art Fair
“Unlike London, where the major museums are setting their exhibition clocks to Frieze Art Fair time, or New York, where the art machine is big enough to swallow almost any art fair whole, Miami offers what might be called a level playing field for different viewing circumstances: i.e., fairs, museums, the private collector/alternative spaces and a few other ventures. All contribute equally to the flow of information.”