The Gallo Center for the Arts, which opened in September 2007, ran a deficit on $2.3 million in its inaugural season. The final figure is lower than the $2.9 million overrun initially reported last August.
Tag: 02.03.09
Daniel Barenboim Calls For ‘Marshall Plan’ For Gaza
The Berlin-based Israeli pianist and conductor, a longtime campaigner for reconciliation between Israel and its Arab neighbors, wants to see “a new ‘Marshall plan’ under German leadership to rebuild the smashed infrastructure of the Gaza Strip.”
Kennedy Center Offers Free ‘Crisis Counseling’ To Struggling Arts Orgs
“Via the website www.artsincrisis.org, companies can submit online requests, and Kennedy Center officials [including renowned Mr. Fix-It Michael Kaiser]… will offer help via e-mail, by phone, by live Web chats or by visiting the arts groups.”
Miami City Ballet Cuts Jobs Of Eight Corps Members
“Too many ballerinas and not enough money to pay them all,” company artistic director Edward Villella wrote in a letter to the laid-off dancers. “This is not a reflection on your work… The board is convinced that such extreme measures are necessary if the company is to survive.”
Jazz Saxophonist Hank Crawford, 74
“[A]n influential alto saxophonist and arranger who toured with rhythm and blues innovator Ray Charles and jazz organist Jimmy McGriff,… Mr. Crawford was best known for the plaintive, bluesy quality he brought to the alto saxophone.”
Cincinnati Symphony Musicians Take 11 Percent Pay Cut
Last week the orchestra declared a $3.8 million deficit. “In addition to the concessions in the union contract, the administrative staff has taken pay cuts, and music director Paavo Järvi, in his eighth season, has agreed to a salary reduction.”
Tracing The Sad Decline Of The Art Of Critical Invective
“Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto gives us for the first time the hideous notion that there can be music that stinks to the ear.” “Strauss has hitherto reveled in the more or less harmonious exploitation of the charnel house, the grave, and the gnawing worm.” Vicious indictments, yes, but in hindsight, they’re evidence of the good old days, when passionate engagement with the music was the norm.
Reversing The ‘Posthumous Assassination’ Of Mendelssohn
Two centuries after Felix Mendelssohn’s birth, the exhumation of his work continues.
As Rescue Plans Take Shape, Brecon Jazz Fest Sits Out ’09
“Plans to stage a jazz festival in Brecon have been postponed for a year but it will return in 2010, according to a group overseeing its future. The Arts Council of Wales said to organise a successful event in just six months was ‘too big a hurdle to leap’. It was hoped the festival would go-ahead this August even though the firm behind it ceased trading in December.”
Snow Went On, So London Shows Did Not
“The heavy snowfall caused several West End theatres to cancel their Monday evening performances. … The Royal Opera House performance of Die tote Stadt was also cancelled. Promoters said the weather meant that they could not guarantee the performers and crew would be able to make it into central London.”