Toronto-based Diamond and Schmitt Architects, the firm that designed the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto and the expansion of Detroit’s Orchestra Hall into the Max M. Fisher Music Center, will design the new home of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra on the vacant northeast corner of the Plâce des Arts. Collaborating will be the Montreal engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin. The C$267 million building should be complete in 2011.
Tag: 03.26.09
Old Village People Video About Phone Sex Becomes Online Hit
“Sex Over The Phone,” the Village People’s 1985 anthem to pay-per-minute phone sex lines (remember those?), “has become, through filesharing sites, somewhat of a sensation.” Why? Because, as Anna Pickard demonstrates, “it’s eight shades of awesome.”
Pacific Baroque Gets The Face It Wanted
In January, the Vancouver-based period-instrument group launched a fundraising campaign around the idea of engaging harpsichordist Alexander Weimann as artistic director. (“If we can get the money.”) Well, it worked: the orchestra has officially engaged Weimann, beginning next season.
Salander Arrested, Charged With Stealing $88 Million
“A noted Upper East Side art dealer has been indicted on charges he stole $88 million from investors and collectors who consigned artwork to him and said they were cheated out of the sale proceeds or never saw the pieces again, according to a person briefed on the case. The dealer, Lawrence B. Salander, and his business, the Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, were charged by a grand jury with 100 counts including grand larceny, falsifying business records, scheming to defraud, forgery and perjury….”
Guthrie’s Next Budget Will Show $4 Million In Cuts
“The Guthrie Theater will cut its next fiscal-year budget by 14 percent, from $28 million to $24.1 million.” Director Joe Dowling, whose 2007 compensation totaled $682,229, “said he would reduce his salary by 10 percent and that four senior managers will take 5 percent cuts. Actors Equity and the Stagehands union have both agreed in principle to wage freezes (awaiting ratification).”
Milwaukee Performing Arts Fund Sets Goal At ’90s Level
“The United Performing Arts Fund will announce Thursday that it is resetting its fund-raising goal back to late 1990 levels. … UPAF provides core operating funds to 16 area performing arts groups and also provides small grants to additional arts groups.”
CBC’s Big Budget Cuts Will Mean Less News, Drama, Music
“The CBC told employees Wednesday it will cut about 800 jobs in an effort to save $171-million amid a flagging economy that has seen advertising revenues plummet. The cuts needed to balance the public broadcaster’s budget for 2009-10 are expected to hit CBC Television hardest, but both television and radio audiences will notice a reduction in news content as well as programming of current affairs, drama, music and special events. Repeats will become more frequent to fill the void.”
Number Of Braille Readers Is Small, Education Spotty
“Fewer than 10 percent of the 1.3 million legally blind people in the United States read Braille, and just 10 percent of blind children are learning it, according to a report released Thursday by the National Federation of the Blind, which is based in Baltimore. … Today, Braille is considered by many to be too difficult, too outdated, a last resort. Instead, teachers ask students to rely on audio texts, voice-recognition software or other technology.”
With Guernica Tapestry Coming To Visit, A Quick Primer
“In occupied Paris, a Gestapo officer who had barged his way into Picasso’s apartment pointed at a photo of the mural, Guernica, asking: ‘Did you do that?’ ‘No,’ Picasso replied, ‘you did’, his wit fizzing with the anger that animates the piece.”
In Orchestra’s Program & Costumes, Echoes Of Auschwitz
A community orchestra in Woodstock, N.Y., “is, with its instrumentation, uniforms and repertory, emulating one of the best known of the concentration-camp ensembles: the Birkenau women’s orchestra of some 54 Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz from 1943 through 1945.” The program “is meant to be a poignant reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust and of how a group of women used music to survive. While this mission has been hailed by numerous Jewish groups, some survivors find it too poignant.”