Category: today’s top story

“When did being appealing or accessible a mean you’re unintelligent and unsophisticated? We have so many stigmas that we just can’t seem to get away from. Maybe for me the idea of crossover–that word has its own connotation now–but the idea of breaking down boundaries is something that I’ve always been interested in my whole life and that’s something I’ll strive for, and I think that’s what the future of classical music has to look forward to.”

San Francisco Opera has fired soprano Hope Briggs from a leading role in its new production of “Don Giovanni” on the eve of the first performance, sparking protests from some who believe that race may have played a role in the decision. SFO director David Gockley says that the firing was based solely on Briggs’s performance in rehearsals.

EMI has signed a deal with YouTube. “It means all four of the world’s major music firms are now YouTube partners. The terms of the agreement should eventually allow users to incorporate recordings by EMI artists into their own projects.”

“In opera’s latest expansion into the world of video, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London said yesterday that it had bought a leading maker and producer of performance DVDs, Opus Arte. Covent Garden’s purchase of a for-profit company is unheard of in the performing-arts world, although several orchestras have begun their own record labels.”

‘The arts industry’s $21.2 billion economic impact in 2005 represented a 61 percent inflation-adjusted increase over 1993, the last time Alliance for the Arts did such a study, and 86 percent over 1983, the year of its first study. The $21.2 billion accounted for about 4 percent of New York City’s 2005 gross city product of $525.2 billion.”

A legal battle between the Comédie-Française and the brother of the late playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès “has served to highlight the power and privileges enjoyed by the heirs of creative artists. They may have no artistic talent of their own, but they bask in reflected glory, receive royalties and determine how works are interpreted or exploited.”

“Researchers said they were surprised not only by the number of hours young children are spending in front of the television but also by the primary reason: Most parents are using television as an educational tool, not for the more conventional explanation of babysitting. Despite nearly a decade of warnings by pediatricians to the contrary, parents believe that the content of programs aimed at babies is good for brain development.”

“In a sign of Russian paranoia about satirising public figures, customs officials turned away six works of art, two featuring the president. Natalia Milovzorova, a spokeswoman for the Marat Guelman gallery, which was sending the work by a Siberian art collective, Blue Noses, said the decision was ‘absurd’ but had been overcome by sending a digital copy. She added: ‘It’s as if we returned to dissident times.'”

An Aboriginal artwork sold for over AUS$1 million at auction this week, setting the all-time record for a painting by an indigenous Australian. The auction was controversial, as a leading arts organization had called for the Aboriginal art to be withdrawn from sale, as few of the original artists would see any monetary benefit.

“A couple of centuries ago, to call a classical musician an amateur was to pay him or her a compliment. In present-day usage, an amateur is a dilettante who dabbles in the arts without the necessary skills or understanding. But the term dilettante has itself been demoted from its original meaning of a person who delights in the arts. How many ‘professional’ musicians truly delight in the music they are paid to produce?”