Category: today’s top story

“The art of improvisation, long dormant in classical music, is undergoing a revival in concert halls, conservatories and recording studios. A handful of performers say they’re restoring a lost tradition that stretches back to Bach, Mozart and Beethoven — composer-performers and improvisers whose impromptu creations were almost as celebrated as their written masterpieces.”

A mere three weeks after he pulled out of his agreement to run New York City Opera beginning next season, retiring Paris Opera director Gérard Mortier has signed on to become artistic director of the Teatro Real in Madrid, beginning in January 2010. Mortier will not hire a successor to departing music director Jesús López-Cobos, opting instead to “work with a permanent team of orchestra directors which will replace the opera house’s musical director position.”

All 38 of the company’s staff members, from artistic director John Alleyne to the administrative assistants, have lost their jobs as the company reels from declining subscriptions and ticket sales. But the company’s chairman says that if 7,000 tickets to next month’s Nutcracker can be sold (2,000 have been purchased so far), the 2009 spring season can be saved. He also says that “In no way does it mean Ballet British Columbia is going out of business. We anticipate emerging from this current situation as a stronger company.”

“In the space of six months, five new arts venues are opening in and around Leicester, Derby and Nottingham – a £90m splurge, largely lottery-funded, that now seems at odds with these frugal times. To build one looks sensible; to build five looks indulgent. After all, how much art does the country need?”

“Could it be that big movie stars simply don’t swing that way? That lead actors defy all percentages and likelihood to remain a strictly heterosexual crowd? Or is the more logical explanation that while Hollywood preaches openness, it is fearful to practice it?”

“The Broad Art Foundation is prepared to make a significant investment in MOCA — $30 million — with the expectation that the museum’s board and others join in this effort to solve the institution’s financial problems. It is vital that the museum remain on Grand Avenue, keep its collection and continue its tradition of world-class exhibitions.”

“Amid news that the Museum of Contemporary Art is facing a financial disaster — and unconfirmed reports that MOCA trustees are pursuing a merger with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art — leaders of other Southern California cultural institutions have reacted with dismay. … Although rumors of MOCA’s woes have traveled through art circles for weeks, the drastic measures under consideration came as a shock to many arts leaders.”

Christopher Knight says that the trustees who stood by and watched as LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art swayed towards the abyss should now be responsible for writing the checks that can bring it back from the brink. “Don’t you dare blame MOCA’s plight on a recent economic downturn beyond your control. The meltdown in the markets is not the cause of the crisis, only of your panic.”

“Los Angeles’ prestigious but chronically underfunded Museum of Contemporary Art has fallen into crisis… The museum has burned through $20 million in unrestricted funds and borrowed $7.5 million from other accounts. Cash from donors is being sought. A merger has not been ruled out.”

A poll of critics from Europe and North America named Amsterdam’s favorite band no. 1 in its list of the globe’s 20 best symphony orchestras. The U.S. has seven orchestras on the list (with Chicago, Cleveland and L.A. at nos. 6, 7 and 8); Germany has four (including the second-place Berlin Phil), and Russia has three.