Earlier this month it was revealed that Ballet San Jose’s board had taken over artistic director Dennis Nahat’s duties and that no ballets had been lined up for 2012. Now the board has announced that no new artistic director will be hired and that the company is now in a “partnership” (not a merger, they insist) with American Ballet Theater.
Tag: 12.23.11
Moving Nutcracker Into A Rock-Concert Arena
Birmingham Royal Ballet is bringing its staging of the holiday classic from its own stage to London’s O2 arena – and it’s every bit as complicated an operation as you’d think.
Opera Boston Abruptly Shuts Down
“With no advance warning that the city’s second-largest opera company was in trouble, board chair Winifred P. Gray and board president Gregory E. Bulger issued a statement this morning that Opera Boston faces ‘an insurmountable budget deficit’ and will cease operations on Jan. 1, 2012.”
Why Stocking Stuffers Reduce Appreciation For The Main Present
“When you receive multiple gifts, you engage in what the researchers call “piecemeal processing”: you evaluate each gift separately. And so anything chintzy brings down the perceived value of even the nicest present. In short, buy something nice and let it stand for itself.”
New European Art Resale Law Will Put London Dealers, Auction Houses At Disadvantage, Say Critics
“From New Year’s Day under European legislation the UK’s art dealers and auctioneers must pay the heirs or estates of artists deceased within 70 years up to 4% of the sale price of each work they sell for more than €1,000 (£840). With Picasso, Matisse, Bacon, Lowry and Sickert all in this category, critics of Europe’s imposition of Artist Resale Rights (ARR) claim the EU directive will put London at a competitive disadvantage with top art works going instead to rival markets in New York, Geneva and Hong Kong, where no such levy applies.”
The Life’s Blood Of 2011’s American Theatre? Revivals
“To look back on the year of ‘Follies’ is to be reminded that it’s revivals, not new work, that make American theater go ’round these days.”
How Do You Define A Masterpiece?
“What is a masterpiece? Crime and Punishment. Hamlet. To His Coy Mistress. Ulysses. Madame Bovary. How does one know this? By having read a hell of a lot. Something only stands out from a crowd when there is a crowd to stand out from. This is one of many reasons to read as widely as you can.”
How North American Book-Reading Tastes Differ From UK’s
“I am intrigued by how our reading habits differ from those of readers across the Atlantic. The North American fiction hit list is familiar enough… It’s in non-fiction where the differences can be found.”
Publishers’ Greed Is Wrecking E-Books
“An ebook priced like a physical book is a terrible deal for the customer. Among other drawbacks, you can’t resell – or even give away – an ebook in most cases. You don’t really own an ebook; you’re just renting it, even if the company you rent from says you can keep it, because that depends on the life span of the seller.”
The New Arab Arts Funding Model
“While the European model of arts infrastructure has come under siege, alternative sources of funding have been evolving in the Middle East. Arab filmmakers have increasingly been lured to a web of production grants spinning out of film festivals in Qatar and the UAE (in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi).”