Category: people

Kevin Cole has carved out a niche for himself as America’s leading interpreter as Gershwin’s piano music, and has solidified his reputation as a crowd-pleaser with performances from coast to coast. But Howard Reich sees potential in Cole that goes far beyond simple performance. American orchestras all seem to struggle when called upon to plan a concert of classic American music (Copland and Bernstein aside,) and Reich thinks that Cole “ripe for an artistic directorship that doesn’t yet exist, but ought to.”

Director John Schlesinger, whose credits include Midnight Cowboy, which “received seven Oscar nominations and won three, for best picture, best direction and best adapted screenplay,” and the critically acclaimed Sunday Bloody Sunday, has been taken off life support at the age of 77. Schlesinger had quadruple bypass surgery in 1998, and suffered a stroke in late 2000.

Frank Gehry does not generally work on a small scale. His buildings swoop and sway and generally defy you to ignore their presence. But the legendary architect is taking his vision into the background this month in upstate New York, where he will make his debut as a set designer for the theatre. Gehry’s set for the Janacek opera Osud will be on display, albeit in a decidedly supporting role, at the SummerScape festival at Bard College.

It may be a bit new-ageish for some, but more and more people are becoming convinced that art has some profound healing powers. One of the leaders of the art-as-medicine movement is California choreographer Anna Halprin. “For more than 30 years, Halprin has been working out the dynamic of art’s multidimensional power to heal mind and body, which many believe in but few have experienced in such a visceral, immediate way.” Halprin claims to have beaten cancer with an intensive program of painting and dance, and while the medical community isn’t about to give a lot of credence to that particular claim, doctors admit that art does appear to have some sort of as-yet-unexplained benefits to human health.

It’s the last place you would expect to find serious art. But inside the dining hall at San Quentin State Prison in California sit “four epic murals… depicting California history from the building of the railroads to the post-World War II industrial boom… The astonishing sophistication of the work — imbued with leftist political imagery extolling working-class virtues at a time when McCarthyism was rampant — has for years been a source of intrigue to the few art historians and others familiar with the murals.” This month, the single ex-convict responsible for the murals will be welcomed back to San Quentin as an invited guest. His name is Alfredo Santos. He hasn’t seen his work in nearly fifty years.

Chances are, you’re either sick to death of hearing about Dave Eggers, or you can’t get enough of him. Either way, there’s little doubt that the ultra-independent Eggers is raising the bar for authors, publishers, and the book industry in general. His readings are more like stand-up comedy acts; his commitment to small, independent booksellers is legendary; and his burning desire to use his unexpected wealth and fame to craft a literary world based less around marketing and more around, well, literature, appears to be quite genuine. Of course, he’s also ridiculously good at self-promotion, but then, that’s part of the game, isn’t it?

Gianandrea Noseda won’t be leaving the podium of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra anytime soon. The orchestra signed the young Italian to a 3-year extension (through 2008) after only a year on the job, and the announcement met with cheers from the musicians of the Manchester-based ensemble. Noseda succeeded the French conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier, who many initially feared would be virtually irreplacable.

“Billionaire Steve Wynn seems like one of those characters who could only exist in Las Vegas. Now 60, he has played as great a part in the creation of modern Las Vegas as anyone – and is now poised, with his latest, most spectacular venture, to leave his name permanently on the city’s skyline… A couple of months ago, he spent more than $25m in the space of 24 hours, buying works by Cézanne and Renoir at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York – but in Las Vegas he is casino magnate, philanthropist, city father and enigma all rolled into one.” Wynn’s latest venture is a multi-billion dollar resort hotel, in which he will place his legendary art collection, and open two theaters featuring performances by the likes of Cirque Du Soleil.

Minneapolis philanthropist Ken Dayton, who died this past weekend, was one of the last of a dying breed of arts supporters: the generous donor who is content to watch his money do good things without expecting or even desiring a personal payback. Dayton, who gave well over $100 million to the Minnesota Orchestra and the Walker Art Center over the past half-century, never wanted his name on a building, and despised the trend towards such self-aggrandizement among younger donors, saying “They want – in giving as in everything else – a quick payout, an immediate return. Alas, in too many instances giving is becoming cause-related marketing.”

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra has been running in the black, but that doesn’t make its newest managing director’s job any easier. Times are tough in the orchestral world, and Libby Christie knows the perils of operating a business with high overhead and unpredictable income sources. What she doesn’t know much about is music. Christie is one of a new breed of orchestral administrators who are hired not for their love of classical music, but for their business savvy. Christie herself describes her expertise as being in “branding, marketing and top-line business development with potential sponsors.” That’s the kind of corporate-speak that often makes boards happy, but can make musicians nervous.