“Critics around the world are expressing outrage at the proposed design for the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, which many believe will fatally compromise the setting of the Parthenon. The issue has become so heated that it is thought to have contributed to the downfall of the Greek Government at last weekend’s election.”
Tag: 03.14.03
A Crisis In American Orchestras
America’s orchestras are slipping away. “Nearly a dozen orchestras across the country have either closed or are in danger of doing so. This season’s first orchestral casualty was the San Jose Symphony, which shut down in November. The Tulsa Philharmonic, the Colorado Springs Symphony and the San Antonio Symphony followed. In February the 49-year-old Savannah Symphony Orchestra canceled the rest of its season. It was $1.3 million in debt, had gone through five executive directors in seven years and was unable to meet its payroll.”
DC: Invest In Arts And Economy Will Improve
Washington DC has a budget deficit of $127 million. But some are advocating the city invest $100 million in the arts. “One of the cardinal rules of business is that it takes money to make money, and experts say investing in arts and theater projects is the way to spur economic development. City councilwoman Sharon Ambrose, the mayor and a number of cultural leaders argue an improved arts community would prompt a better quality of life for the city.”
Spectator Sport – Surveiling This Year’s Vennice Biennale
This summer’s Vennice Biennale carries the subtitle of “The dictatorship of the spectator.” So what does it mean? “Is it that the spectator is the artist’s enemy, distanced by a different viewpoint? How important is the spectator anyway at the Biennale? Apparently not enough. One of the stated aims of this year’s show is to increase the number of visitors, which usually nose-dives after the initial crush of the opening week. The last Biennale attracted 243,498 in six months, 30,000 of whom were press who visited in the first three days.”
Rochester Philharmonic In Financial Difficulty
The Rochester Philharmonic is projecting a $550,000 deficit this season. But in the short term, finances are even worse. “An estimated cash shortage of up to $900,000 this fiscal year could jeopardize the RPO’s ability to pay its musicians and vendors as soon as next month. The RPO faced a similar budget squeeze last year, but $350,000 in administrative cuts paved the way for a modest surplus. This year, however, the ensemble has little left to cut.”
Autry, Southwest Museums To Merge After All
Last month the Autry and Southwest museums in Southern California decided to delay their plans to merge. But after lengthy negotiations, the two museums have decided to go ahead with the plan. “To cover costs of the merger, Autry officials say they plan to raise $100 million over the next five years, including $38 million to boost the center’s endowment and an estimated $15 million to restore and renovate the Southwest buildings.”
Bob Moog’s Back With The World’s Greatest Synthesizer – But What’s It Called?
Forty years ago Bob Moog invented the first synthesizer. It defined electronic music in the 1960s. Now Moog is back with what he calls the greatest synthesizer ever made. It’s his first instrument in decades. Only one problem: “British trademark law means that the 70-year-old creative genius cannot sell his synth under the internationally recognised brands of Moog Music or Minimoog, because they have been appropriated by an entrepreneur in Wales.”
Guggenheim To Build Rio Outpost
The Art Newspaper is reporting that the Guggenheim has made a deal to open a branch in Rio de Janeiro. “The so-called Guggenheim Rio will be the New York-based foundation’s first outpost in South America, augmenting a global network that presently includes the Frank Lloyd Wright flagship in Manhattan, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the Guggenheim Bilbao, the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, and the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas. The city-run museum will be housed in a striking new building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel and set within the waters of beautiful Guanabara Bay, affording sweeping views of the picturesque harbour whose entrance is marked by the famous ‘Sugar Loaf’. Construction is to begin this summer with completion scheduled for late 2006.”
International Ballet Fest Seems More Like Competition
The Kennedy Center’s International Ballet Festival has, in many ways, “been successful – the sold-out houses, the fodder for discussions of style, form and substance, the views of dancers and works we do not often see here. One hopes it will inspire more such collaborative events. But in some ways the festival has been indifferently executed. In the parade of excerpts that has constituted the bulk of the festival, excerpts performed without sets, out of context and lacking atmosphere, what has been missing is the very thing this festival was designed to highlight: artistic impact and style. Why did the Kennedy Center allow the companies free rein?”
Making Out To Mozart? Really?
Showing a little skin to try to sell recordings is one thing, but a new series of “classical” (and we use the term advisedly) recordings is right over the top. “Shacking Up To Chopin, Making Out To Mozart and Bedroom Bliss With Beethoven are the three albums in the Love Notes series. Each claims to be “the perfect addition to intimate moments” and boasts a selection of “teasing, tantalising and suggestive melodies with rapturous crescendos”. They also promise to provoke “uninhibited passion”, “loss of control” and “sleepless nights of the best kind”.