Tag: 03.23.06

Going To The Movies, Without All The Baggage

As Hollywood continues to puzzle over the mystery of the shrinking multiplex audience, private “film clubs” are gaining traction in some cities across the country. “Organizers of film clubs — cliques in which film lovers can bond over movies in a more controlled environment than the neighborhood multiplex — say their associations are growing in popularity. It’s particularly so with those who prefer their film fare served up with respect, and minus the endless commercials, chatter and crying babies.”

Architecture Students To Get Urban Exposure

Ohio’s Kent State University will move its entire graduate program in architectural studies to its Cleveland outpost “as soon as possible,” according to the school’s dean. “KSU has operated the Urban Design Collaborative in Cleveland since 1999,” and the school wants all of its architecture students to work in an urban environment. Kent State’s main campus is located 40 miles southeast of Cleveland.

NY Hispanic Museum To Move Out Of Wash. Heights

“The Hispanic Society of America, home to one of the largest collections of Hispanic cultural material outside Spain, has decided to move downtown [in Manhattan] from Washington Heights to draw more visitors and acquire the space it needs to display its art and artifacts… A proposal to move ahead with relocation plans received unanimous support from trustees at a meeting last month at the Prado Museum in Madrid. The two institutions have a close association.”

TV Networks Running Scared Following FCC Fines

In the wake of last week’s record FCC fines levied against CBS for supposedly “indecent” programming, the WB Network is self-censoring the pilot episode of a new program, and offering up the uncut version on its website, for viewers who wish to see what had to be removed from theover-the-air version. Among the scenes removed by the network are “one that depicted two girls in a bar kissing on a dare and another of a girl unbuttoning her jeans.”

The Risky Business of Chamber Orchestras

Keeping a chamber orchestra alive, even in a city known for its vibrant cultural scene, is a tough assignment, and this week’s announcement that Seattle’s Northwest Chamber Orchestra would fold came as a harsh dose of reality, but not a big surprise. “There was a time when the loss of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra would have been grieved much more by the music community. The impact is less now, not only because its audiences were in a downward spiral, but because there are more opportunities to hear chamber orchestra repertory now.”

Wilkens Takes Ohio

Christopher Wilkens, music director of the Orlando Symphony and formerly of the San Antonio Symphony, has been appointed to lead the Akron Symphony in Ohio as well. “Wilkins’ audition concert caused a stir in the audience because of how Wilkins helped the orchestra overcome the famously dry acoustics of E.J. Thomas Hall to achieve a large, resonant sound.”

The Shire Has Its Day – But Will It Last?

It’s opening night in Toronto for the CAN$28 million stage production of Lord of the Rings, and seemingly everyone is holding his breath. “LOTR is unusual in being a show that is nearly impossible to define, because it simultaneously is and is not a musical, is and is not a play, is and is not a circus act, is and is not a vast spectacle. It’s a theatrical experience unlike any other. But how it is ultimately defined, by critics and audiences, will go a long way toward determining whether the show runs for one year — or many years.”

All Concertmasters Are Pretty Much Alike, Anyway

Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster David Kim’s appearance was to be the highlight of the year for California’s El Camino Youth Symphony, but this week, as Kim prepared to leave for Silicon Valley, one of his assistant principals in Philadelphia was in a car accident, another went into labor, and he was forced to stay behind lest the orchestra go leaderless. Nonetheless, after a few phone calls, Kim was able to rustle up a passable replacement soloist for the El Camino kids – his good friend Robert Chen, concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony.

Since We’re Not Bankrupt After All…

In the wake of the bitter, months-long battle that preceded the Louisville Orchestra’s contract settlement with its musicians this week, the orchestra knows it has some public fences to mend. So with its April performances back on (the board had threatened to cancel them,) the orchestra is offering free tickets to several shows, and giving subscribers who exchanged out of the April shows extra passes.