“After a seven-year hiatus, the musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra are primed to begin commercial recording again.” Beginning this weekend, the PSO will record all four Brahms symphonies live in concert, to be released on the Pentatone label.
Tag: 03.01.07
New York’s Suddenly Exciting Opera Scene
With the innovative Peter Gelb at the helm of the Metropolitan Opera, and the controversial Gerard Mortier preparing to take over City Opera, New York opera fans are in for a lot of changes, and a lot of envelope-pushing. “Because the singers at the Met are booked much further in advance than those at the City Opera, Messrs. Gelb and Mortier will each present the first season he has fully designed in 2009-2010.”
The Old Bait & Switch
Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell unveiled her latest budget, many arts groups in the state assumed that they would be in for an increase in funding, based on the formation of a new Cultural Treasures program created by the governor and endorsed by various cultural leaders. Instead, Rell’s budget zeroed out traditional funding for nearly all arts programs in the state, catching everyone off guard.
Long Lost Strad Comes Home
“Twenty-one years after disappearing in a robbery, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s circa 1727 Stradivarius violin is back in town, newly reconditioned and ready for a new solo debut.” The instrument, purchased by the DSO in 1978 for its concertmaster to use, was stolen in a burglary in Europe in 1985. No one saw it again until last year, when a retired DSO violinist spotted it in an auction catalog.
Creative Activity In LA, Yes. Artistic, Not So Much.
Southern California’s “creative economy accounted for about 1 million in direct and indirect jobs, generating $140 billion in sales in Los Angeles and Orange counties,” says a new study, commissioned “in an effort to highlight the importance of arts education in schools, and to spur government officials to provide business incentives for arts industry employers.” Nonetheless, the arts “represented just 5.8% of creative activity in the region.”
Charo? Your Second Act Is Calling
“Madison Avenue is taking a cue from the adage that history repeats itself first as tragedy and then as farce. In a trend perhaps also inspired by the popular 1980 movie ‘Airplane!,’ agencies are hiring venerable actors, once known for serious straight roles, to display cleverly self-mocking sides of their personalities in campaigns aimed at younger as well as older consumers.”
Unsafe On NYC Streets: The Art
“Someone out there has a problem with art. … The evidence is the bright green and purple splashes of paint that began appearing on walls in Brooklyn and Manhattan more than a month ago. The carefully aimed blobs obscured or disfigured dozens of pieces of street art created by people who may not be household names, but who have achieved the esteem of peers and some recognition from the mainstream art world.”
Live At Leeds, Bollywood Dancing
“Bollywood dancing has hit the northern English county of Yorkshire – famed for its love of what was once Britain’s favourite dish before it was overtaken by chicken tikka masala. In fact, so popular is Bollywood dancing in Yorkshire that the county’s pre-eminent theatre … is staging a performance of a play called Bollywood Jane throughout June. More than 60 eager young people from all walks of life are auditioning to take part….”
‘Pride and Prejudice’ No. 1, Bible No. 6
A World Book Day poll at worldbookday.com asked readers to list the ten books they can’t live without. “In the end, quality tells. People may have bought The Da Vinci Code in its millions but, when asked to name the most precious book they have read, they relegated it to 42nd place and chose Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.”
Was Wagner A Cross-Dresser? A Letter Suggests So
“A previously unpublished letter by Richard Wagner to a firm of Milanese couturiers offers the intriguing possibility that the great composer was, in fact, a cross-dresser. The letter is published for the first time today in the inaugural edition of the Wagner Journal.”