Category: people

Sunday April 29

SILENT GENERATION: The United Nations has appointed French mime Marcel Marceaux as an international ambassador “promoting the needs of older people in society” Euronews 04/28/01

Friday April 27

(NEW) LIFE BEGINS AT 90? Composer Elliott Carter is still going strong at the age of 92. “Even now Carter’s stature is more thoroughly appreciated in Europe than it is in his native US, where he has always been regarded with some suspicion. His music has always demanded concentration and never provided easy, ephemeral rewards.” The Guardian (UK) 04/27/01

MISSING TRIO: The classical music world has lost three important figures in the past few weeks – conductors Giuseppe Sinopoli and Peter Maag, and educator/composer Robert Starer. Boston Globe 04/27/01

Friday April 20

SINOPOLI DIES: Italian conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli died after suffering a heart attack and collapsing on stage during a performance of Verdi’s “Aida” at Berlin’s prestigious Deutsche Oper opera house. He was 54. USAToday (AP) 04/21/01

MUSEUM DIRECTOR COMMITS SUICIDE: The director of museums in Merseyside, England, knighted by the Queen last year for his service, filled his pockets with sand and drowned himself. “He was desperately overworked. He was worried that he was not in control of everything that he should have been.” The Times (London) 04/21/01

RIGHTS TO PASTERNAK ARCHIVES SETTLED: “The court dismissed an appeal by the family of Olga Ivinskaya, on whom Pasternak based the character of Lara in his novel Doctor Zhivago, leaving his daughter-in- law, Natalya Pasternak, as sole inheritor of his manuscripts and notes.” The New York Times 04/21/01 (one-time registration required for access)

Thursday April 19

SMALL POND, VERY BIG FISH: “When announcers call his name, audiences erupt into loud whoops. One poet has designed a Jack McCarthy Fan Club button, and another made a stamp with a quote from one of McCarthy’s poems. In last year’s Boston Poetry Awards, he was voted ”Boston’s Best Love Poet.” In the poetry world, he’s a rock star.” Boston Globe 04/19/01

GETTING TO KNOW A LEGEND: One of the most successful playwrights, songwriters, and directors in American theatre history, Abe Burrows, is getting a fresh look from theatre aficionados. Burrows’s personal papers, notes, and correspondence have been donated to the New York Public Library by his son, TV producer James Burrows. The New York Times 04/19/01 (one-time registration required for access)

Wednesday April 18

WORDS AND MUSIC BY ORRIN HATCH: The Republican Senator from Utah is a song-writer himself, so he’s sympathetic to artists in their battles with record distributors. And he’s not just any senator. “As the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Hatch has more sway than any other Washington legislator over the future of online music in a post-Napster world.” The New York Times 04/18/01 (one-time registration required for access)

MILES DAVIS, SOMEWHAT DIMINISHED: Miles Davis was once “the coolest black musician on the planet.” Then along came Jimi Hendrix. And jazz-rock fusion. “At the end of his life, he was playing tunes by Cyndi Lauper and Michael Jackson, which was either a triumph of anti-snobbery or the effect of looking at the Billboard charts for too long.” The New Statesman 04/16/01

AT LAST, A PULITZER FOR CORIGLIANO: Every year John Corigliano worked up a nice level of rage in April, assuming he would be passed over again for the Pulitzer Prize. This year, they surprised him and gave him the award. What makes the Pulitzer special? “In concert music, it is the highest honor a composer can get.” (RealAudio interview, requires free RealAudio player.) NPR 04/17/01

Monday April 16

TOP TENOR: “In a world short of big tenor voices, Cura has become the first choice of any major opera house trying to cast Otello, Manon Lescaut, Il trovatore, indeed almost any 19th-century Italian opera. In the seven years since he won Placido Domingo’s Operalia competition, he has gone from being an unknown to an operatic superstar whose name sells CDs, whose face provokes the sighs of a devoted fan club, whose voice fills stadiums.” The Telegraph (London) 04/16/01

Sunday April 15

WHY I WON’T BE INTERVIEWING DAVE EGGERS: The author has a distrust of journalists – he prefers only to be interviewed by e-mail. “Eggers, I fear, wants a new world, one without a filter between him and his readers. Perhaps because of his Internet experience, he’s comfortable only with that relationship.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 04/15/01

Friday April 13

HARRY SECOMBE DIES AT 79: Sir Harry – he was knighted in 1981 – was a staple of British entertainment for more than half a century. His Goon Show, with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, pioneered the manic-surreal comedy picked up by Monty Python, the Firesign Theater, and Beyond the Fringe. BBC 04/12/01

Thursday April 12

MARIA GAETANA MATISSE HAS DIED at age 58 in New York. Widow of Henri Matisse’s son Pierre, she was a longtime New York gallery owner and influential modern art patron. New Jersey Online (AP) 4/11/01

Wednesday April 11

HIPSTER LAUREATE:  Once the essence of the counterculture, the Beat movement is now a legitimate part of American literature. This doesn’t stop eighty-two year old poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti from being as hip and edgy as ever. “Poetry is a sofa full of blind singers who have put aside their canes. Poetry is a picture of Ma in her Woolworth bra looking out a window into a secret garden.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer 04/10/01

Monday April 9

ARTHUR CANTOR DIES AT 81: Legendary Broadway producer brought some 50 plays to the stages of Broadway and the West End. New York Post 04/09/01

Friday April 6

CONDUCTING WITH A SHARP WIT: The conductor Sir Thomas Beecham died 40 years ago. He was a seminal figure in British music, but remembered now more for his sharp wit. The British,” he claimed, “may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes”. The Guardian (London) 04/06/01

Thursday April 5

DEATH OF A SALESMAN: Not so very long ago, America’s top orchestral musicians were paid on a scale little better than waiters, and their working hours were determined solely by the men standing on the podium. It took many a devoted advocate to sell the industry on the desirability and prudence of paying and treating musicians as the highly-trained artists they are. One such advocate died on Saturday. Philip Sipser was 82. The New York Times 04/05/01 (one-times registration required)

TWO GUYS WHO DIDN’T GET ALONG: Letters between the director of Australia’s National Gallery and his star curatorial recruit reveal friction from the moment the latter arrived last year. “The ‘Dear John’ letters reveal that the honeymoon between the two men was short. Even before John McDonald took up his $90,000 a year position,” the museum’s director chastised him for his outspokenness. Sydney Morning Herald 04/05/01

Wednesday April 4

ROBESON REDUX: The son of famed opera star and blacklisted activist Paul Robeson has penned a new biography of his father, and the first reviews are in. The younger Robeson had originally commissioned an official biography more than a decade ago, but he was furious at the result, and withdrew his support for its publication as an “authorized” biography. Boston Globe 04/04/01

FINALLY, SOME RESPECT: Female composers have been making great strides in the classical music world in the last decade. Case in point: New Jersey’s Melinda Wagner, who has watched her Pulitzer Prize-winning flute concerto take on a life of its own, even as she moves on to her next high-profile commission. Philadelphia Inquirer 04/03/01

Monday April 2

(P)OPERA STAR: “Because Charlotte Church is both MTV and PBS, she has found herself at the center of a debate that’s heating up in the classical music world: Is she the industry’s savior or its worst nightmare? Will her huge sales finance all the serious musicians whose low profiles challenge the patience of the recording industry? Or will her concessions to popular taste degrade the standards of an entire genre?” New York Times Magazine 04/01/01 (one-time registration required for access)

• SELECTIVE MEMORY: Singer Charlotte Church is still a teenager, but she’s putting out an autobiography. Make that a selective autobiography. All mentions of Jonathan Shalit, the agent/promoter who discovered and built her career have been expunged. Last year Shalit and Church split under unpleasant circumstances. BBC 04/02/01

DEATH OF MODERN JAZZ: John Lewis, founder of the Modern Jazz Quartet, died at the age of 80. Washington Post 04/02/01

Sunday April 1

PASSION TO GIVE: Alberto Vilar has become the biggest arts donor in the world. “I am the archangel. If I can influence the direction of philanthropy, I would be very, very happy. And in the same process, I get the freebie – I keep the arts alive.” Washington Post 04/01/01

GETTING TO KNOW YOU: Why are we so fascinated with biographies? It’s become a huge genre. Amazon.com lists 32,000 English-language biographies, A&E’s Biography is one of the channel’s biggest hits, and there’s even a magazine devoted to biographies. Is it just our obsession with celebrities? The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 03/31/01

GARTH RETURNS: Producer Garth Drabinsky is up and working again with an array of new projects. The Toronto showman, who had built the “largest live theatre production company in North America”, saw his empire crash around him in 1998. Now he’s well on the comeback trail. The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 03/31/01

Friday March 30

GORE VIDAL ON CENSORSHIP: In a Prague Writers’ Festival Interview, Gore Vidal spoke out against a host of American ills, not the least of which in his mind is the silencing of its freest thinkers. “For instance, throughout the 50s into the 80s, I was a fixture on national television. Now I am no longer a guest on anything where I might say something that they would find embarrassing, which would be practically anything I would say about how the country is run. So I am the perfect example of censorship in the United States.” The Guardian (London) 3/30/01

Thursday March 29

REHABILITATING JEFF: For years Jeff Koons was an example to many of the kitsch shallowness of the art world. A self-promoter with a tangled personal life, he made an impact on the art world by being controversial. But more recently Koons has had a makeover, and even his harshest critics are singing praises. Los Angeles Times 03/28/01

MUNRO HONORED: Canadian author Alice Munro has won the Rea Award for lifetime achievement, a $30,000 prize honoring the art of the short story. Times of India (AP) 3/29/01

Monday March 26

AN ARTIST AND AN INTELLECT: One of Canada’s great poets died last week, and is being remembered as an innovator who never gave up on restoring intellectualism to poetry, after what he saw as its degradation in the free-wheeling 1960s. Louis Dudek was also a great teacher, who inspired a generation of students to pursue the modernist form. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 03/26/01

ACCOUNTING FOR A LIFE: Richard Stern has written 19 books in his long career, and he claims that literary success comes from the constant introspection that all good writers go through. “I can’t remember who said something like ‘Happiness is white and doesn’t stain the page,’ but of course almost all stories are about such forms of unhappiness as disturbance, derangement and disorder. These may be comic, may be imaginary, but they initiate storytelling.” The New York Times 03/26/01 (one-time registration required)

THE RELUCTANT BIGWIG: “Who is Ann Godoff? At 30, the president of Random House was an aimless temp. At 40, she was quietly editing for the two biggest party boys in publishing. By 50, she’d beaten all comers to lead the most important imprint in the book business. How’d she do it? Well, she doesn’t want to talk about it.” New York Magazine 03/26/01

Sunday Marh 25

RETIREMENT IS OVERRATED: Nearly forty years after Merce Cunningham burst onto the scene and changed dance forever, the 81-year-old choreographer is still one of the most innovative figures in modern dance. “The work is not and has never been trendy or appealing to popular taste. When making a dance, Merce has never considered what might be commercially viable.” Yet somehow, Cunningham has been embraced by the public like few other choreographers before or since. The New York Times 03/25/01 (one-time registration required for access)

ALTERING THE LANDSCAPE: Claude Cormier creates landscapes. More than that, he creates altered realities. His vision of a perfect expanse of open land is as likely to include plastic pink flamingoes as not. “In 1996-97, for example, Cormier dyed parts of the lawns at Montreal’s Canadian Centre for Architecture vibrant blue as part of its The American Lawn exhibition because, he says, ‘the North American obsession with perfect grass deserved celebration.'” The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 03/25/01

REARVIEW MIRROR: Magdalena Abakanowicz has always been fascinated with the human form – specifically, the back of it. Her massive sculpture projects, which often consist of huge numbers of backward-facing figures that can fill a gallery or hillside, are often even more powerful for their lack of the traditional focal points of human sculpture. Los Angeles Times 03/25/01

Friday March 23

CARTOONIST WILLIAM HANNA DIED Thursday at age 90. Hanna created the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Tom and Jerry, and Yogi Bear, among others, and cofounded Hanna-Barbera in 1937. Together with Joesph Barbera, they created the first weekly original cartoon show, the first primetime cartoon sitcom, and earned seven Academy Awards. ABC 3/22/01

THE NONEXISTENCE OF SHAKESPEARE: Okay, so there appears to be some potential validity to the recently popularized arguments that Shakespeare may actually have been some guy named Marlowe, or possibly a bunch of different people. But conspiracy theories like this have a way of getting out of hand, and spawning even more ludicrous ideas. “The Bard wrote ‘Hello God, It’s Me, Margaret.’ As today, girls in the 16th century struggled with the mysteries of budding womanhood. Shakespeare wished to be of help.” Also, “Sherlock Holmes was a badger.” San Francisco Chronicle 03/23/01

HOW TO WRITE A HIT: Composer Joan Tower is quite well-known within the walls of the music world for her forays into multiple styles of composition, and her enthusiasm for the profession. But audiences might never have heard of her, had it not been for the title of a 1987 work. Tower confesses that she doesn’t think it’s a very good piece, but like it or not, “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman” has become a phenomenon, and a huge hit for most orchestras that perform it. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) 03/23/01

THE REAL CROSSOVER ARTIST: When Hong Kong was preparing to be reunited with China, officials wanted a Grand Musical Event for the occasion. They turned to Chinese composer Tan Dun, who has showed a unique flair for the interweaving of musical styles, and an enthusiasm for large-scale works. Next Monday night, Tan could walk off with three Oscars for a recent film score, and “[he] couldn’t be more delighted.” Boston Herald 03/23/01

Thursday March 22

BELAFONTE IN CUBA: Harry Belafonte says he is “supporting the Cuban people,” in making multiple trips and speeches at communist rallies in Cuba. But his appearances “are very much resented by those opposed to Castro inside the island, who consider him nothing less than a collaborator of the regime.” The Idler 03/22/01

Wednesday March 21

LOOKING A GIFT MILLION IN THE MOUTH: Alberto Vilar is probably the greatest opera patron in history. He doesn’t even keep track of his small gifts, those in the $25,000 to $50,000 category. So why do people mistrust him? Maybe it’s his rationale. “I think there are two real purposes to a gift: one is to accomplish a specific goal–set up a co-production, pay for this evening’s gala. The second is to leverage the gift.” Los Angeles Times 03/21/01

LESSING WINS BRITAIN’S RICHEST BOOK PRIZE: At 81, Doris Lessing has been awarded the £30,000 David Cohen prize for a lifetime of excellence, “52 years after she arrived in Britain from Rhodesia, to be confronted by a media article announcing that the novel was dead as a literary form. But in her suitcase was a manuscript [The Grass Is Singing] which helped restore the novel to blazing life when it reached bookshops the following year, 1950.” The Guardian (London) 03/21/01

Tuesday March 20

ARE YOU READY TO DIE FOR NORMAN MAILER? “One does, in the course of a writing life, create a lot of hostility. I think I’d almost rather have it that way than have people say, ‘Oh, what a nice guy.’ I think a healthy person should be able to die for a few ideas — and can feel well loved if a few are ready to go all the way for him or her.” Poets & Writers 03/01

THE PLAYWRIGHT AS PUBLIC MAN: Harold Pinter is almost as well known for political activity as for writing plays. “You can’t make those determinations – about truth and lies – in what we loosely call a work of art…. Whereas, in the actual, practical, concrete world in which we live, it’s very easy, from my point of view, to see a distinction between what is true and what is false. Most of what we’re told is false.” The Progressive 03/01

Monday March 19

ARDOIN DEAD: John Ardoin, for 32 years music critic for the Dallas Morning News, and an expert on the life of Maria Callas, has died at the age of 66. Dallas Morning News 03/19/01

Sunday March 18

ROSS BOUNCES BACK: Remember David A. Ross? The top man at the Whitney Museum in New York who for nearly a decade never saw his name in print without the words “embattled director” before it was practically run out of Gotham on a rail in 1998. But Ross has found new life as the director of San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, and the gallery’s newest exhibit is his proudest accomplishment. Los Angeles Times 03/18/01

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS AN OLD MAN: In the world of French Canadian abstractionists, few artists can approach the legacy of Charles Gagnon. A soft-spoken man with a thirst for knowledge and new experience, he has produced some of the last century’s greatest abstract paintings. Now, as he reflects on his life and his career, the sharp twists and turns of his evolving style become less mysterious. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 03/17/01

ATTENTION PAID: Mildred Bailey is hardly a household name, even among jazz aficionados. But throughout the 1930s and ’40s, Bailey was as big as stars got in the world of the big band. A stunning singer and legendary diva, she later developed a terrible overeating disorder, and died in obscurity in 1951. Now, a small New England-based record company has re-released her complete recordings for Columbia. Hartford Courant 03/18/01

Friday March 16

DRIPPER’S LEGACY: Ed Harris’s riveting portrayal of one of the 20th century’s most fascinating artists has earned “Pollock” an Oscar nod and critical raves. But art historians have been irked by Harris’s decision to make it seem as if Jackson Pollock’s innovations were nothing more than an outgrowth of his descent into madness. “Pollock’s epiphany likely didn’t arise out of locking himself in a Greenwich Village walkup for three weeks, as the film suggests. Abstract Expressionism built on European modernist painting.” The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 03/16/01

Thursday March 15

AN INTELLECTUAL YOU CAN MOVE TO: Rap performer Underbelly is not widely known, and has released only one CD. (He’s working on his second.) But he doesn’t need money from record sales; he has other things to fall back on. Like a Ph.D. in Romance Languages, and a job as assistant dean at Washington University. St. Louis Post-Dispatch 03/14/01

Monday March 12

OF MYTH AND POLLOCK: The new bio-pic of Jackson Pollock has a lot to cram into it. But, beautiful as it is, it’s not possible to fully put into perspective the artist’s life, legend and myth. Herewith an attempt at clarification. The Idler 03/12/01

Sunday March 11

SALONEN STAYING: When big prestigious music directorships come open Esa-Pekka Salonen is often mentioned as a candidate. But he’s staying put in LA. “In his time in Los Angeles, Salonen has observed the orchestra’s audiences becoming younger and more racially diverse. He has witnessed a major personnel changeover (almost 30 players) in the orchestra, and he finds the playing level at auditions ‘absolutely stunning’.” San Francisco Chronicle 03/11/01

Friday March 9

BALLET LEGEND NINETTE DE VALOIS DIED on Thursday at age 102. A dancer with the Ballet Russe and then founder of the Royal Ballet, Valois established ballet in Britain when the country had no classical dance tradition and became a revered choreographer, teacher, and director. “Her influence on the development of ballet in this country cannot be overstated.” BBC 3/08/01

TRIBUTES TO VALOIS from the UK dance community. Sir Anthony Dowell, director of the Royal Ballet described her as “one of the 20th century’s greatest and most influential figures in the world of the arts.” BBC 3/08/01

THE TIMES’ DANCE CRITIC REMEMBERS VALOIS: “People regularly spoke of Madam in hushed tones: what would she think of this ballet and that? Who would she like? Who wouldn’t she like? I heard tales of her fearsome authority and her strong opinions, always freely expressed.” The Times (London) 3/09/01

RUSSIANS DELAY RETURN OF PAVLOVA’S REMAINS: An apparent dispute between St. Petersburg and Moscow has interrupted the return of Anna Pavlova’s remains to Russia. Her ashes, in London since the ballerina’s death seventy years ago, were to have been sent back to her native country at the request of the mayor of Moscow; now the Russian Embassy has canceled the request. BBC 03/08/01

MCCAUGHEY LEAVES YALE MUSEUM: Patrick McCaughey, Director of the Yale Center for British Art, is leaving that post to “do research and writing and seek other opportunities in the arts.” McCaughey, formerly director of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, increased attendance at the Yale Center, and oversaw extensive renovations to the building. His departure comes as a surprise to most observers. The Hartford Courant 03/09/01

Thursday March 8

ABBADO ILL: Conductor Claudio Abbado recently had his entire stomach removed because of cancer. “Those who saw photographs of the conductor over the past few months were shocked at how emaciated and miserable he looked. This naturally gave rise to a great deal of speculation. This was even more of a strain upon Abbado than the illness itself, which was indeed serious, so much so that he took the step – which must certainly have been difficult for him – of countering all the speculation.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 03/08/01

Wednesday March 7

AN ODD SORT OF REBEL: Gao Xingjiian, the first Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature, is on an American tour, and many American scholars are taking a close look at his work for the first time. Gao is nothing if not eclectic: his work is banned in China, yet he refuses to criticize Beijing. He writes epic tales in a distinctly Chinese style, yet abhors the words “we” and “us,” which he says have overwhelmed “I” and “you” in China. Boston Globe 03/07/01

Tuesday March 6

THE NOVELIST AS TRUTH-TELLER: Isabel Allende’s novels get different reactions. Some are masterpieces; some are bodice rippers. But all come out of her own life. “Allende identifies by name those who’ve inspired characters in her novels, and even hints at one friend she’s saving for a future tale. I find myself wondering if the people who know her best don’t demand immunity from fictionalization.” Salon 03/05/01

Monday March 5

TED AND RICHARD II: Ted Turner and the Ivy Leaguers of Time Warner weren’t getting along. They thought he was a hick. Until he rose to give a toast – an extended speech from “Richard III.” “They never treated us like hicks again.” The Idler 03/05/01

Sunday March 4

THE MEZZO WHO WOULDN’T QUIT: Frederica von Stade is 55 and said to be winding down her career. But some new operas have got her attention – she’s commited to some revivals of Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking” and anxious to participate in a new Richard Danielpour effort. That takes her to age 60. And then… Boston Globe 03/04/01

Friday March 2

HARRY POTTER IN BUCKINGHAM PALACE: JK Rowling, who created Harry Potter, will receive the Order of the British Empire today at Buckingham Palace. It will be presented by the Prince of Wales, in recognition of her services to children’s literature. She was to have received it last year, but had to cancel. Her daughter was sick. BBC 03/02/01

RETHINKING THE MUSEUM: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Director David Ross is largely responsible for SFMOMA’s new computer generated-art show, “010101: Art in Technological Times.” He’s also a vocal proponent of incorporating new technologies into museums. “The contemporary museum’s role today is no longer purely as a vehicle for showcasing art, but also as a space to discuss the contrast of values and ideas.” Wired 3/01/01

Thursday March 1

TOLSTOY AND THE CHURCH, STILL AT ODDS: Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy rejected the authority of the Russian Orthodox church, for which he was excommunicated. Now, a century later, his great-great-grandson Vladimir has asked the Church to forgive the novelist. The director of the Tolstoy Museum thinks it’s a bad idea: “Tolstoy never repented, nor would he have approved of his descendant’s drive to reunite him with the church.” The Church so far has made no definitive reply. Vancouver Sun 02/28/01

HOW DID LORENZ HART DIE?: The show-biz legend is that the famous lyricist arrived drunk at a Broadway opening, was thrown out of the theater, collapsed in a snowbank, was taken to a hospital, and died of pneumonia. But his nephew Larry Hart says it just ain’t so. There was no snow in the city that night; Hart went home to relatives; he was taken to the hospital from his own apartment. New York Post 02/28/01

A MID-SUMMER NIGHT’S PIPE DREAM?: Traces of cannabis have been found in pipes which Shakespeare may have used. The pipes were dug up from the garden of his home in Stratford-upon-Avon; South African scientists speculate that the Bard used the drug as a source of inspiration. “But the conclusions of the scientists have been dismissed by Shakespeare experts who feel suggestions he used drugs as an aid to writing undermine the bard’s accepted genius.” BBC 03/01/01

• GUITAR LEGEND DIES: John Fahey, the acoustic guitarist who proved that folk music and instrumental virtuosity were not antithetical, has died at the age of 61. Fahey, who revolutionized the world of folk guitar with his complicated steel-string variations, slipped into a coma following open-heart surgery. Nando Times (AP) 02/25/01
• GREATEST OF THE 20TH? The debate over Igor Stravinsky has always been a fierce one. Was he the greatest composer of the twentieth century, or an overrated, self-promoting musical bully? Did his decision to flee Russia compromise his music, or make it all the more important? With the century officially over, prominent musicians and composers are weighing in. Los Angeles Times 02/25/01
• ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Harrison Birtwhistle is everything we envision a composer to be: gruff, hermitlike, and dressed like a poverty-stricken professor at a liberal arts school, right down to the tweed jackets. Maybe that predictability is why he is so often forgotten among modern composers. But get beyond the outward appearance, and Birtwhistle reveals himself to be one of the most consistent, and consistently good, composers of the last hundred years. The Sunday Times 02/25/01
• FILLING IN THE GAPS: Charles Mingus was one of the great innovators of jazz, and has been written about, studied, and copied extensively. But until quite recently, little was known about the early output of the great bassist. A new recording reveals that Mingus was a rabblerouser from the very beginning, bending existing forms of jazz to suit the inimitable style that the world would come to know as his. Chicago Sun-Times 02/25/01

Saturday February 24

• SURREALISM OR PORN? The painter Balthus, who died recently at age 92, presents a problem for fans of his breathtaking surrealist work. While Balthus was certainly an innovator, and perhaps a genius, he also had a disquieting habit of painting prepubescent girls in nude and near-nude poses that would make most people more than a little uncomfortable. Balthus claimed that there was nothing sexual in the images, but many continue to regard him as little better than a highbrow Larry Flynt. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/24/01
• THE LAND OF OZ: Israeli writer Amos Oz is a respected and controversial political commentator, as well as a successful novelist. But drawing the line between his worlds of fiction and reality is growing more and more difficult as the Middle East heats up once again. The Independent (London) 02/24/01

Friday February 23

• POSTHUMOUS CITIZENSHIP FOR HIKMET: Turkey’s most prominent poet of the 20th century, Nazim Hikmet, died in exile in 1963, stripped of his citizenship. Now a movement to restore that citizenship is being pushed by the Turkish Ministry of Culture. “Nazim is known around the world. He doesn’t need this recognition, but the Turkish republic does.” Not everyone agrees; several nationalist politicians are fighting the idea. The Guardian (London) 02/22/01

Wednesday February 21

• BEING LIKE BING: How to explain the phenomenon of Bing Crosby? He was more than a simple pop singer or movie star. “The emotions that Crosby elicited did not seem inherent so much in him as in his audience and their lives. He touched on the feeling latent in every common recurrence, Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, each season in its turn” New York Review of Books 03/08/01

Tuesday February 20

• KRAMER GONE: Stanley Kramer, the famed director of “High Noon,” “Judgment at Nuremberg,” and “Inherit the Wind,” has died in a hospital near Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia. He was 87. New York Times (AP) 02/20/01 (one-time registration required for access)
• BRA-BURNING DEEMED TOO CALLOUS: Greece has announced that it will not be burning the undergarments of opera star Maria Callas that it acquired at auction recently. The plan to incinerate the diva’s unmentionables so as to preserve her honor met with sharp criticism, and government officials have decided instead to stash them away in a safe. Nando Times (AP) 02/19/01

Monday February 19

• BALTHUS DEAD AT 92: French-born painter Balthus, considered one of the 20th century’s finest realist painters, has died in his home at Rossiniere in Switzerland.” The New York Times 02/19/01 (one-time registration required for access)
• MORRISON AT 70: Writer Toni Morrison turns 70 and her friend turn up for a party. “Even at 70, Morrison continues to astonish her readers with a lyrical agility and a grasp of imagery so keen they seem to constitute a language of their own.” Washington Post 02/19/01

Sunday February 18

• MICHAEL GRAVES WINS GOLD MEDAL: Architect Michael Graves wins the coveted Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects. “Graves is a ranking member of an exclusive club of famous architects whose services are in constant demand. There is no definitive membership list, nor an established set of standards to get in. It takes a combination of talent, vision, ambition, discipline, savvy, a sense of timing, and sheer luck.” Washington Post 02/17/01
• MR OPERA DEAD: Opera impressario Boris Goldovsky has died at the ge of 92. “Mr. Goldovsky himself, and then his students, fundamentally changed the nature of operatic performance in this country and the public perception of the art. In his hands, it was not an exotic and irrational entertainment, but the most precise, inclusive, accessible, and communicative of the performing arts.” Boston Globe 02/17/01

Thursday February 15

• PATRON SAINT: Investor Alberto Vilar, the world’s most generous individual patron of ballet and opera, says his latest gift – $50 million to the Kennedy Center – “kills two birds with one stone. It isn’t just about putting on wonderful performances. It’s about doing something to build skills in the world of arts management – to start an international institute where the future heads of organizations like the Kennedy Center can learn all the aspects of running a house.” New York Times 2/15/01 (one-time registration required for access)
• “DOT PAINTER” DIES: Australian painter Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, who popularized the Aboriginal “dot painting” style, died Monday at age 75. During his lifetime, his work fetched the highest prices ever paid for an indigenous painting. The Age (Melbourne) 2/15/01
• TODAY’S BIBLICAL SIGN OF ARMAGEDDON: Luciano Pavarotti has announced his intention to aggressively pursue the opportunity to duet with Madonna. Yes, that Madonna. But he’s not getting his hopes up. “I have asked her but she has been busy – first she makes the baby and then, I don’t know.” BBC 02/15/01
• A WALKING CONTRADICTION: Arthur Erickson has been hailed as a visionary, and derided as pompous and out-of-touch. He has lived high on the hog, and lost everything. He has built architectural wonders for use as low-income housing, and designed a grand concert hall widely considered to be the ugliest and most acoustically inferior in North America. In fact, it is the inconsistency of the man that makes him so interesting. The Globe & Mail (Toronto) 02/15/01

Wednesday February 14

• INVALID VALEDICTORY: You may have seen a poem identified as the “farewell letter” of Gabriel García Márquez circulating on the Internet. It’s poignant, because García Márquez has lymphatic cancer. It’s galling, because he didn’t write it. “[N]ot once during his long and distinguished literary career has Gabriel García Márquez ever written poetry.” Brill’s Content 02/09/01
• RUSHDIE STILL THREATENED: The edict threatening the life of Salman Rushdie seemed to fade for a few years. Now a hardline Iranian newspaper is again calling for Rushdie’s murder. “The daily said in an editorial that Rushdie’s move to the United States would make his killing easier…. [T]he country’s main military force issued a statement saying the death sentence against Rushdie still stands.” Salon (AP) 01/13/01

Tuesday February 14

• THE DU PRE TRADE: Cellist Jaqueline du Pre seems to hold endless fascination, even years after her death. “Endlessly recycled images of her gilded youth and wheelchair-bound decline symbolise the malign power of the illness that killed her. Meanwhile, the furore unleashed by her siblings’ memoir and its consequent film – painful truth or grotesque travesty? – rages on.” And now a new documentary (an answering documentary to the “Hilary and Jackie” movie, perhaps?) examines her life again. The Independent (London) 02/13/01
• BOND MADE SHAM ART SALES: Fallen Australian business tycoon Alan Bond evidently managed to sell millions of dollars-worth of his art collection in the early 1990s as his business empire was collapsing. The sales were a sham, say prosecutors and were arranged through a complicated web of offshore businesses. The Australian 02/13/01

Monday February 12

• SERIOUS AT SEVENTY: Pianist Alfred Brendel is turning 70 and embarking on a grand birthday tour. He is considered to be a the top of his powers but his writings and pronouncements on music are…a little too serious for some. New Criterion 02/12/01

Sunday February 11

• REMEMBERING HEIFETZ 100 YEARS LATER: “Jasha Heifetz – the father of modern virtuoso violin playing – has had a powerful influence on practically every violinist. He single-handedly changed the standard of violin playing forever.” Miami Herald 02/11/01
• THE MAKING OF A LEGEND: Edward Albee was proclaimed a genius early in his career, then knocked down until his success in 1991 with “Three Tall Women.” Now he can do no wrong. “Why this change of critical heart came about, I’m not quite sure. Perhaps it’s because there’s a new team of reviewers in place, guys who do not have a vested interest in demanding that Albee repeat the much-admired ‘Virginia Woolf’ ad nauseam.” New York Post 02/11/01
• LIFE BEYOND CONDUCTING: Esa Pekka Salonen just took a sabbatical from his job as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He’s coy about his future: “Does the star conductor of the 82-year-old orchestra, one of the most sought-after guest conductors in the world today, mentioned as a candidate to head any major orchestra in need of a music director – in short, one of the great hopes of classical music – does he mean to say that he’s giving up conducting?” Orange County Register 02/11/01

Friday February 9

• ANOTHER FAREWELL: Dancer/choreographer Pauline Koner is dead at the age of 88. Koner was one of the dance world’s great outsiders, an iconoclast who never studied modern dance formally, but became one of its leading proponents by combining aspects of multiple styles, from classical ballet to Spanish folk dance. The New York Times 02/09/01 (one-time registration required for access)

Thursday February 8

• ANNE MORROW LINDBERG DIES: Anne Morrow Lindberg, the writer and wife of Charles Lindberg died Wednesday at age 94. She was the author of more than two dozen books of prose and poetry, including five volumes of diaries. Her 1955 book “Gift from the Sea” was a phenomenal international success. New York Times 2/08/01 (one-time registration required for access)

Wednesday February 7

• NURSING MATISSE: She was Matisse’s nurse for a year and had dreams of a career in design. He used her as a model, and, when he saw her drawings, offered to teach her. But Arokas passed up the chance to become Matisse’s only pupil. After a year in his fascinating but restrictive company, the lure of the big city was again too much. ‘I wanted to revel in my youth and to join a fashion school – silly girlish things’.” The Telegraph (London) 02/07/01
• FINDING FREEDOM: Nobel Prize Laureate Gao Xingjian (“Soul Mountain”) hailed Taiwan in a speech there this week for its support of artistic expression – unlike Hong Kong, where he said he felt “embarrassed” by the territory’s lack of freedom. “He called Taiwan the only Chinese community in the world where culture and arts were fully respected.” Xingjian’s work has been condemned by the Chinese government, and he has lived as an exile in France since 1988. China Times 2/07/01

Tuesday February 6

• A WORN-OUT WELCOME: It seems Australians have had enough of Robert Hughes. The tides of public opinion have turned against the once-revered art critic ever since his May 1999 traffic accident, and his vitriolic outbursts that followed. “Whereas only two years ago his name was almost universally spoken with deep respect, he now seems to be torn asunder at every turn.” Sydney Morning Herald 2/06/01
• DEATH OF A TRAILBLAZER: The man who made the trombone a legitimate jazz instrument, and became one of post-war America’s most important ambassadors of bebop, has apparently committed suicide. J.J. Johnson was 77. The New York Times 02/06/01 (one-time registration required for access)
• SPIEGELMAN’S ART: No one has done more for the cause of the serious comic book than Art Spiegelman. The 53-year-old author/artist behind Maus, the chilling narrative of the Holocaust in comic book form, has gained legitimacy and fame from his Pulitzer Prize and the continued rise of the form. His latest work, however, is aimed squarely at a more traditional comic book audience: children.  CBC 02/04/01

Monday February 5

• XENAKIS DIES: Iannis Xenakis, the Greek-French composer whose highly complex scores were based on sophisticated scientific and mathematical theories, died yesterday at his home in Paris. He was 78. The New York Times 02/05/01 (one-time registration required for access)
• IS MIME OLD-FASHIONED? Mime Marcel Marceau is 78. “He looks as if the craggy head of Methuselah was attached to a 20 year-old’s lithe body. In speech and gesture, a child’s exuberance alternates with sad wisdom. This is as it should be, for Marceau defines everything through contrast.” Irish Times 02/05/01
• FIGHTING DEPORTATION: A violist with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in Ontario is appealing a government ruling that would send him and his family back to their native Albania. The violist claims that he is in imminent danger from the Albanian government, and the orchestra is backing him. CBC 02/02/01

Sunday February 4

• MODEL ENTREPRENEUR: 88-year-old Donald Seawell worked as a counter-intelligence agent, wrote speaches fpr Roosevelt and Truman, produced Broadway plays and published the Denver Post. Last season he took considerable risks to produce a 12-hour production of “Tantalus” that drew theatre lovers from all over the world. Now he’s helped bring the production to London… The Guardian (London) 02/03/01
• MASTER TEACHER: Few people outside the world of classical music have heard of 82-year-old Maria Curcio, but within that world she’s a legend: as Artur Schnabel’s favourite pupil, as the muse of Rafael Orozco and Radu Lupu, and as a tutelary goddess second to none. Her verdict on Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, with whom she once duetted in concert, would get that lady’s lawyers scurrying for a writ; likewise, kindness prevents my repeating her damning view of one of today’s celebrated young stars in the pianistic firmament.” The Independent (London) 02/03/01
• SAVED BY THE PRIZE: Matthew Kneale was struggling as a writer before he won the Whitbread awrd last week. “If the novel had sunk without trace, it would have been a body blow, both financial and psychological, from which he might never have recovered. Now suddenly he is soaring. On such happy accidents – or bold gambles, depending which way you look at it – careers turn.” The Telegraph (London) 02/03/01

Friday February 2

• GAO IN CHINA: The Chinese Writers’ Association has denounced the Nobel committee for choosing writer Gao Xingjian for this year’s literature prize, charging the move was politically motivated. Gao became the first Chinese-language Nobel literature laureate in the award’s 100-year history. Gao says even though his books are banned in China it is not difficult to find copies of his books on the mainland. Since leaving China in 1988, Gao has lived in exile in France. China Times (Taiwan) 02/02/01
• LEARNING ON THE JOB: Itzhak Perlman will begin a new career path this fall, when he becomes Principal Guest Conductor of the Detroit Symphony. He is hardly the first high-profile soloist to make the leap to the podium – Bobby McFerrin in St. Paul and Mstislav Rostropovich in Washington both caused controversy when they decided to try waving the baton on a semi-full time basis. A Perlman guest stint in San Francisco reveals much about what he has learned already, and what he has yet to grasp. San Francisco Chronicle 02/02/01

Thursday February 1

• IT’S NOT OVER ‘TIL… Luciano Pavarotti is getting older, and speculation about his retirement from the operatic stage is rampant. Many critics are viewing his current stint as Radames in Verdi’s “Aida” as his Met Opera swan song. While Pavarotti will undoubtedly continue to pack concert halls and stadiums, his voice can simply no longer hold up against the rigors of a fully staged, 4-hour opera performance. Ottawa Citizen (AP), 02/01/01

• LAST WORDS MAGICALLY REALIZED: Nobel literature laureate Gabriel García Márquez is said to be working on his life story. He’s also known to be dying. But in recent weeks an e-mail has been circulating that professes to be the master’s final words and a goodbye to his loyal readers. It contains enough verse to convince readers it is authentic, but… Daily Mail & Guardian (South Africa) 01/29/01
  • LIFE REVEALED: The first chapter of Garcia Marquez’s autobiography has been printed in a Spanish newspaper. “Judging by this chapter, which is written in a highly poetic Spanish full of images, the memoirs as a whole promise to be a great work of literature and a ‘book of poetic fiction’.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 01/31/01
• SHARING GLORY, SHARING GRIEF: Carlos Fuentes may be the best Latin American writer who hasn’t yet won the Nobel Prize. No matter. “I received the Nobel Prize when my dear friend Gabriel García Márquez got it. I got it, and all our generation got it.” Fuentes writes constantly of the tragedies in his own life, believing that words have power to make things happen, or not happen. “In literature you are always saying, I will write the worst possible scenario so that maybe that way it won’t happen.” The New York Times 01/31/01 (one-time registration required for access)
• THE HARDEST-WORKING WOMAN IN CULTURE: “For decades following the second world war, Marguerite Duras was the hardest-working woman in the French culture business. As a writer, she published more than 70 novels, plays, screenplays, and other works, not to mention a steady stream of newspaper columns and other journalistic projects. She was also an innovative filmmaker, with 19 titles to her credit. She was also a mess.” The Idler 01/31/01

Tuesday January 30

• NOT A WILDE THING: A recording said to be the only one of Oscar Wilde, has been exposed as a fake. “Allegedly made in 1900, the recording – part of the British Library’s sound archive – was found last week to have been created in the Sixties. The Library said the tape was a fake.” Books Unlimited 01/28/01

Sunday January 28

• THE MAN WHO WOULD BE BING: Bing Crosby was a giant. Not just a giant of music, but a bona-fide representation of the American zeitgeist in the World War II era. But these days, while Sinatra lives on, while Louis and Ella are as popular as ever, the king of crooning is an afterthought at best. A new biography explores the rise and fall of one of the forgotten greats. New York Times, 01/28/01 (one-time registration required for access)

Thursday January 25

• THE “ARTS FIRST LADY”? Is American First Lady Laura Bush going to be “the arts first lady?” “Quietly, the word has been spreading among entertainment and arts circles that the Lone Star teacher and librarian is devoted to the arts, personally as well as publicly.” Variety 01/24/01

Tuesday January 23

• MARTIN AMIS ON SCREEN: A new movie based on one of Martin Amis’s books is about to be released. It’s a rare event. “This is only the second time in almost 30 years of publishing that such an incident has come to pass.” The Guardian (London) 01/23/01
• 600 MOVIES IN 60 YEARS: “At 81, producer Dino De Laurentiis remains a master showman, the last survivor of a bygone era of swashbuckling Hollywood producers like Joseph E. Levine and Sam Spiegel who made movies fueled by grandiose schemes and consummate salesmanship.” Los Angeles Times 01/23/01

Monday January 22

• DOMINGO’S 60th: Placido Domingo had a 60th birthday party at the Met this weekend, inviting friends to sing with him. “Domingo, looking vigorous and in high spirits, was greeted with a standing ovation. He teared up at the response, turned his back momentarily to wipe his eyes and then nailed a brilliant rendition of Torroba’s ‘Romanza de Rafael’ from ‘Marivilla’.” Washington Post 01/22/01

Sunday January 21

• RESCUED BY MUSIC: As a child Christoph Eschenbach escaped from the Nazis and became ill. Even after he was rescued he was unable to speak for almost a year. That’s when music became the focus of his life. Now he has been appointed music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Philadelphia Inquirer 01/21/01

Friday January 19

• CONSOLATION CAREER: Ten years ago Jon Sarkin was a chiropractor. Then, at the age of 36, he had a strock. Stripped of his career he became an artist and before long the New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine began buying his work and GQ wrote about him. Now he has a thriving art career and Tom Cruise is badgering to make a movie of Sarkin’s life. The Telegraph (London) 01/19/01
• WAXMAN DIES AT 65: Canadian actor Al Waxman, a “quintessential Canadian TV star” has died at the age of 65. “Throughout his career, which spanned more than four decades, he regularly worked in both films and on the stage, but it was on the small screen where he made his indelible mark.” The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/19/01

Wednesday January 17

• STILL SONNY: Saxophonist Sonny Rollins recorded one masterpiece after another in the late 1950s, and “set a standard that has inspired, and defeated, fellow saxophonists ever since. Despite some famous sabbaticals, Rollins, now 71, has been a familiar and frequently encountered performer, while never quite challenging the almost ruthless genius of those few invincible years. But he remains a sovereign figure, and the jazz audience is devoted to him, fretful if he releases an indifferent record or plays an unremarkable gig.” New Statesman 01/15/01
• THE POLITICS OF FOURTH: “The ‘fourth tenor’ is a meaningless soubriquet that can deliver the kiss of death, the crock of gold, or both. Vargas, Cura and Roberto Alagna have all variously been hailed as the “fourth tenor” but Alagna – a Franco-Sicilian – was the first to be marketed as such. And boy, oh boy, has he sold a lot of records.” The Independent (London) 01/14/01
• BERNARD SHAW AT 80: A recording of the critic/playwright at the age of 80, in which he tells students that: “If a person’s a born fool, the folly will get worse not better by a life long practice, not better.” BBC 01/16/01 [Audio clip Real Audio required]

Tuesday January 16

• FORMER BSO CHIEF DIES: Former Boston Symphony manager Kenneth Haas, died unexpectedly at the age of 57. “During a 30-year career, Haas held important positions with three of America’s so-called Big Five symphony orchestras: the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the BSO. Haas commanded attention just by walking into a room. But he was a soft-spoken, tireless advocate for the arts who always seemed happiest when music, not he, was the center of attention.” Boston Herald 01/15/01

Monday January 15

• HUGHES BLUES: Robert Hughes’ caustic wit has served him well as an art critic, but the same irreverent style may be his downfall in court. He faces possible jail time after refusing to plead guilty to last year’s car crash, as well as defamation suits from prosecutors he antagonized. “Many Australians, from the prime minister on down, feel that he has worn out his homeland. Now many consider the 62-year-old critic a remnant of Australia’s free-swinging past, a tone-deaf duffer with poor impulse control.” New York Times Magazine 1/14/01 (one-time registration required for access)
• CAROL SHIELDS REFLECTS: Battling breast cancer, Canadian author Carol Shields ponders her life and her new play. The Globe & Mail (Canada) 01/15/01

Friday January 12

• HONORING MOREAU: Actress Jeanne Moreau has become the first woman to be inducted into France’s prestigious Academie des Beaux Arts. Moreau’s career has spanned 50 years and 100 films. Times of India (Reuters) 1/12/01

Wednesday January 10

• THE LURE OF A NEW HALL? It would appear that conductor Christophe Eschenbach had his pick of orchestras to lead as music director. Why did he choose the Philadelphia Orchestra over the New York Philharmonic? Chicago Sun-Times 01/10/01

Tuesday January 9

• GARBO AND DIETRICH: A new book claims that Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo “not only knew each other in their pre-Hollywood days, but were lovers 20 years before their ‘introduction’ by Welles, and the affair, although brief, had a lasting effect on them both.” The Telegraph (London) 01/09/01

Sunday January 7

• REBUILDING LA: A year ago when Deborah Borda took over management of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the orchestra was in shambles, with a $7 million debt and attendance and morale problems. “By September, the end of fiscal year 1999-2000, the Phil’s operating deficit had been reduced to less than $200,000. To date, this season’s ticket sales are up an average of 13% per concert following 10 years of steady decline – good news, but still 25% behind ticket sales a decade ago.” Los Angeles Times 01/07/01
• CONCEPTUAL ARTIST: Architect Daniel Libeskind has a number of projects in the proposal or construction stages. “For Libeskind, the point of architecture is not how it looks, but how it feels. He always saw his drawings as a necessary preparation for building, rather than theoretical speculation. The fact that they are not immediately comprehensible as architecture is no drawback for him.” The Observer (London) 01/07/01
• BUM’S RAP? Controversial rapper Eminem had a schizophrenic week. He was nominated for a Grammy, but he also “faces felony assault and weapons charges in two Michigan counties, and in one of those jurisdictions, Macomb County, the prosecutor has pledged to seek ‘significant jail time’.” Los Angeles Times 01/07/01

Friday January 5

• HEART TO HART: A forthcoming tell-all book about theatre legend Moss Hart has New York buzzing. The book is reportedly “chock-full of juicy details about Hart’s homosexuality, battles with manic-depression, suicidal impulses and spendthrift ways.” New York Post 01/05/01

Thursday January 4

• JOSE GRECO DIES AT 82: “His appearance in several movies, notably Around the World in 80 Days (1956) and Ship of Fools (1965), brought Greco’s talents to a worldwide audience. At the height of his career, in the 1950s and 1960s, he also performed on television variety shows hosted by Ed Sullivan, Perry Como, Dean Martin and others.” Philadelphia Inquirer 01/04/01

Wednesday January 3

• THE LEGEND CONTINUES: When Ronald Wilford announced in November that he was stepping aside as president of Columbia Artists Management, the music world took notice. “A seminal and sometimes fearsome figure in the business, he has had an unequaled role in helping to shape the careers of many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors like Herbert von Karajan, James Levine, Kurt Masur and Seiji Ozawa. But WWilford says he’s not retiring. “I don’t want to step down. I have no intention of retiring or anything like that.” New York Times 01/03/01 (one-time registration required for access)
• LAST SOLO: The principal trumpeter of the Trenton Symphony collapsed onstage Monday right after performing a solo and died before an audience of about 2,000. Backstage 01/02/01