According to a carefully massaged joint statement, Valerie Wilder “has decided to step down” after five and a half years as the 50-dancer company’s executive director. Boston Ballet’s Finnish-born artistic director, Mikko Nissinen, will assume Wilder’s responsibilities while the board tries to find a permanent replacement.
Tag: 03.12.08
Edward Albee On His Plays:
“I tend to become uncooperative — and occasionally downright hostile — when people ask me what my plays ‘are about.’ Especially the new ones.”
West End Oliver To Be Cast On TV
“After solving a problem like Maria and discovering a Joseph fit to wear his dreamcoat, a BBC One Saturday night series will find new stars for Sir Cameron Mackintosh’s revival of Oliver!” But since Oliver is played by a minor, the BBC says that “the role will not be open to the public vote,” and that “this decision was taken in the best interest of the children following expert advice.”
The Lit Critics Who Don’t Believe In Value
“In the English departments of British universities, the professors have been strenuously denying the value of literature; these candidates for critical authority have waived their rights. It is no wonder, Rónán McDonald observes, that academic literary critics are no longer public critics, for if you abandon literary value then, in the eyes of those outside the campus boundaries, the value of the literary critic goes too.”
The China Factor (And A Struggle For The Soul Of The World)
“An international struggle is being waged for the soul of humanity. If the Chinese triumph, then humanity can potentially achieve ‘the establishment of the kind of commonwealth of civilizations that Adam Smith envisaged and a socially more equitable and ecologically more sustainable development path than the one that has made the fortunes of the West.”
Covent Garden Goes For Pop Opera
In July Covent Garden will stag a “pop opera’. It includes “a cartoon animal, dozens of acrobats and jugglers and a martial arts troupe. In a remarkable departure for the theatre, it has scheduled seven performances of Damon Albarn’s ‘pop opera’, Monkey: Journey to the West.”
Kennedy Slams Star Conductors
The star violinist calls conducting stars “power-hungry egocentrics more interested in chasing money and prestige than developing a musical relationship with an orchestra.”
Studying Music And Dance In Baghdad (It’s Tough)
In Iraq, the studying of music and dance is problematic these days. “In the fragmented tribalism of Baghdad, playing music is not merely an ideological offense to some but also indicates a distinct level of education or income, and can catch the attention of criminals.”
The Curators Fight Back
“Curators have traditionally been recruited as museum directors — for years they were pretty much the only candidates. But in recent times, as museums have come under pressure to increase attendance, expand their buildings and compete with one another for donors, their trustees and boards have preferred to hire leaders with management or business acumen rather than art training. Now curators are fighting back, eager to avoid seeing more businesspeople taking coveted directors’ posts.”
Dutoit Will Help Choose Next Philly Orchestra Music Director
“Beginning in September, Charles Dutoit will succeed the orchestra’s seventh music director, Christoph Eschenbach, as chief conductor and artistic adviser, a unique, four-year position created for him. Dutoit’s presence gives the orchestra a shrewd, multi-year opportunity to work with a wide range of conductors before choosing a new music director.”