The English National Opera is a mess. Critics contend that plans to save the company will strip the company of its artistic integrity. “The word ‘ensemble’ is at the core of the debate about ENO’s future. What does it mean, and why does it provoke such intense emotions whenever it seems to be threatened? At one level, the answer is simple. An ensemble performs together. It can be half a dozen actors touring Strindberg in the provinces; or a band of period- instrument specialists bringing baroque concertos back to life; or a company of 500 in an Edwardian theatre in London’s West End. Size doesn’t matter, but shared values, collective experience, training, exploring and changing together – these are what count.”
Tag: 03.07.03
Guard Implicates Himself In Dali Theft
A guard at New York’s Riker’s Island jail has implicated himself in the theft of a Salvador Dali sketch from the facility. “The officer told authorities Saturday’s theft was concocted as a get-rich-quick scheme, with participants hoping to cash in on the sketch by selling it on the black market for $500,000. But the painting was discovered missing far sooner than they hoped because the officers opted to keep it in its frame and put a replica sketched by one of the guards back with another frame.”
Moving Paris’ Art
Paris museums are moving art in their storerooms to a location outside the city for fear of floods. The massive transport of 100,000 artworks is disrupting museums. “The Musée d’Orsay and the Louvre, are sited right on the banks of the river, which snakes through Paris in a series of grand curves. Many others are also having to evacuate their stores: the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts and the Orangerie. The current urgency is particularly unfortunate given that huge underground galleries and stores were built under the Louvre as recently as the 1980s as part of I.M.Pei’s Grand Louvre project. At the time no one was worried about floods.”
English Books That Fall Apart
On average, books made in the UK are physically inferior; they discolor, warp and fall apart more easily than American books. Why? “England should be the very last country making bad books. In terms of its capabilities, the British print industry may be the most technologically advanced in the world, having assimilated all the tricks of the computer age by the 1980s, a decade before any of its American counterparts did. If the problem is not a technological one, what is it?”
Houston Symphony Rejects Players’ Contract Offer
The Houston Symphony has rejected an 11th-hour counterproposal by the players and “stuck with its ‘best and final’ offer of pay reduction averaging 7.4 percent across the orchestra.” On Friday, “musicians in the 97-seat Houston Symphony Orchestra instead proposed a 4 percent payroll reduction achieved through a two-week unpaid furlough and an immediate one-week salary deferral to allow the society some breathing room as it approaches a $6 million debt ceiling imposed by major foundations that contribute annually.”
Indie Bookstores Weathering Downturn
The book business is suffering in the economic downturn, just like everything else. But there are signs that independent booksellers are weathering the downturn better than they have in the past. “Before stores might have had five employees and now they have three. People who leave aren’t being replaced.”
New Books – No Refunds, No Returns?
Borders chief Greg Josefowicz suggests that it is time to stop the practice of book stores being able to return books they haven’t sold to publishers. “This practice arose during the Great Depression when publishers needed a way to reduce the risk of buying books, so they gave retailers the opportunity to return unsold orders for a full refund. Today, nearly seven decades later, we’re still playing by the same rules. While this certainly offers obvious benefits to companies like Borders, I wonder if it is the best way to run the book business in 2003 and beyond…”
Pennsylvania Arts Funding Saved
Pennsylvania’s governor Ed Rendell has decided not to ask for cuts in his state’s arts spending. “Why, then, did Rendell stay committed to arts funding as he sought to make up a $2.4 billion shortfall? Arts supporters across Pennsylvania say it’s because he saw how Philadelphia arts initiatives benefited that city when he was mayor. Arts leaders also suggest the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts was spared because whittling its budget would not add much to the cuts Rendell needed to make. Its $14 million budget represents 0.07 percent of Pennsylvania’s general fund.”
Pope’s Poetry An Instant Bestseller In Poland
Pope John Paul II’s first book of poetry since he became Pope was published this week. In Poland the book has already become a best-seller. “Buyers have locked up orders for about 80 per cent of the initial printing of 300,000 copies – a publishing phenomenon in a country where literary works reach bestseller status at 50,000. ‘The Roman Triptych’ was written after John Paul’s emotional visit to his homeland last summer.”
The Rap On Rap Music Videos
A new US study says that “black teenage girls who view more rap videos are apparently more likely to get in trouble with the law, to take drugs or to become infected with sexually transmitted diseases. Only two factors other than rap-music viewing boosted the teens’ rates of promiscuity, substance abuse and violence: lack of employment and lack of parents who monitor teen activities.