The best-selling band of the decade isn’t even alive anymore. Billboard has the complete stats…
Tag: 12.11.09
Detroit Symphony Deficit Zooms Up
“The Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s deficit soared to nearly $3.8 million dollars on a budget of $29 million in 2009, underscoring the precariousness of the orchestra’s finances in Michigan’s depressed economy and jeopardizing the artistic growth and momentum that has been building under new music director Leonard Slatkin.”
Atlanta Opera Cuts Season, Budget
“The Atlanta Opera, coming off the strongest production in its 30-year history, announced today that it will perform just three operas next season (down from the current four) and that its budget will shrink 21.5 percent to $5.3 million (down from the current $6.75 million). The company has almost no endowment.”
Cincinnati Donor Creates $85M Classical Music Fund
“The Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund will help maintain the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as a major, full-time professional orchestra. It also will allow Cincinnati Opera to continue a 90-year collaboration with the Cincinnati Symphony in its pit, and allow dancers to pirouette to live music at Cincinnati Ballet well into the future.”
Thomas Hoving, 78, Who Turned The Met And The Museum World On Their Heads
He was “the charismatic showman and treasure hunter whose tenure as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1967 to 1977 fundamentally transformed the institution and helped usher in the era of the museum blockbuster show.”
Whitney Biennial To Shrink For 2010
“The 2010 edition of the Whitney Biennial … will not only try to chronicle current goings-on in contemporary art, but it will also reflect the world at large. Thus, in these recessionary times, the show will be smaller than it has been in recent years, with just 55 artists, down from 81 in 2008 and 100 in 2006.”
After 78 Years, Spain’s Royal Academy Releases New Spanish Grammar
The RAE “appointed itself custodian of the Spanish language over three centuries ago and has affiliates in every Spanish-speaking country, but has long been felt to ignore how millions actually communicate between Tijuana and Tierra del Fuego … But the new grammar book launched on Thursday in Madrid seeks to end these divisions” by incorporating Latin American usage.
Editor & Publisher And Kirkus Reviews Abruptly Closed
“Abandoning some of the best known names in trade publishing, the Nielsen Company said Thursday that it would shut down Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews, and sell a stable of other publications, including Billboard and, to a newly formed media company.”