Oprah Winfrey’s selection of a grim, terrifying, post-apocolyptic novel for her national book club has raised some eyebrows, but Gail Caldwell says that “in a year when a former presidential contender is being touted at the Oscars for a documentary on climatic ruin, Oprah’s attention to [Cormac] McCarthy’s novel makes a fine (and hardly risky) bid for planetary conscience.”
Tag: 03.31.07
Cleveland Museum Stays Visible Through Loans
“A small new museum devoted to Jewish heritage has been thrust into the art world spotlight with loaned works by Rembrandt, El Greco, Rubens and others while the Cleveland Museum of Art undergoes renovation… For the Cleveland museum located about seven miles away, the loan represents a chance for fans to stay in touch with a world-renowned collection that for the most part has been locked away in storage since 2005 for a $258 million, six-year expansion and renovation.”
Opera’s Nationwide Reach
The cost and logistical difficulty of presenting opera used to mean that only the largest metropolises could afford to put on anything innovative or impressive. But times are changing… “For all the attention being lavished on the innovations at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the ones expected at its Lincoln Center neighbor, New York City Opera, there is, right now, no center to American opera.”
Taking A Masterpiece Out For A Test Drive
Much is made of the high cost of the world’s best violins, especially when they’re sold at auction. But violins are, after all, tools of a trade, and no musician would want to buy an instrument he had never played on. As it turns out, the auction houses are sensitive to that, and so, this past week, anyone who wanted a chance to play a million-dollar Stradivarius got a chance to do so (free of charge) at Christie’s in New York.
NYC’s Tonic To Close
The New York music club known as Tonic will shut down later this month after a nine year run, and if you don’t live there, you may well wonder why you should care. But Tonic has been one of the mainstays of New York’s avant garde music scene, which reverberates around the world, and its loss will have a profound impact on musicians across multiple genres.
Michigan Arts Groups Find Their Grants Frozen
“Arts and cultural organizations in Michigan are reeling from a moratorium on state grant expenditures issued this week by Gov. Jennifer Granholm to deal with the state budget crisis. The moratorium on all state grants, which takes effect on Wednesday, will freeze payments to arts and cultural organizations for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.”
Toronto Turnaround
A scant five years ago, the Toronto Symphony was on the verge of collapse, running up massive deficits and laboring to play quality concerts in a substandard hall. But thanks to an acoustical revamp, a dynamic new music director, a cut-price ticket program for young adults, and a tireless board chair with a passion for fundraising, the TSO is back on track and thriving in Canada’s largest city.