Tag: 04.06.05

Music, War, And Memories of Britten

Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem,” isn’t often performed, largely because of its massive personnel requirements – a full orchestra, a separate chamber orchestra, plus several choirs and vocal soloists – but this week, the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will combine for the first time in decades to bring the anti-war opus to life. And the music won’t be the only star: as luck would have it, a 93-year-old musician who played in the Requiem’s emotional premiere in Coventry, England lives three hours from the Twin Cities, and is being brought in to attend the concert and speak to the audience about the impact Britten’s work had on a shattered post-war British public.

Humana In Need Of An Overhaul?

In a year when theatre as a whole seemed reinvigorated by politics and activism, Louisville’s venerable Humana Festival fell distinctly flat, says Michael Phillips. “The case of this year’s Humana Festival, the fifth under the stewardship of Actors Theatre artistic director Marc Masterson, is one of artistic Chapter 11. The festival, a venerable and well-known showcase for new work, needs reorganization, a fresh angle, a renewed reason for being in a theatrical world very different from the one in which it began.”

Glancing Back, Pushing Forward

Michael Ritchie’s tenure as artistic director of the L.A.-based Center Theater Group will be a delicate balancing act between honoring the company’s past proven successes and seeking new audiences and new directions that might galvanize the theater community in the city. He is determined to make the three theaters under his control succeed without relying on touring Broadway productions, and says that he won’t hesitate to use the star power available to him from neighboring Hollywood to bring in the crowds.

Slipping In A Message Under The Radar

A new Indian film focusing on homosexuality, family, and the AIDS virus is testing traditional social boundaries in the socially conservative country. But remarkably, My Brother Nikhil hasn’t met with much opposition. “Commercially, it is no runaway Bollywood blockbuster; nor is it meant to be. Rather, its impact lies in having served up a story about love and loss – sentimental staples of contemporary Indian cinema – with a gay man at its center, and having done so without kicking up the slightest fuss from India’s cultural conservatives.”

Talvi, Seattle Dispute To Arbitration

The Seattle Symphony has decided not to appeal a court ruling ordering it to settle a lawsuit brought by its recently dismissed concertmaster through arbitration. Violinist Ilkka Talvi, who recently turned up the heat on the orchestra by launching a blog and using it to air much of the ensemble’s dirty laundry, claims that he was capriciously dismissed by Seattle music director Gerard Schwarz, and further argues that a clause in his contract does not allow him to be fired so long as Schwarz remains in charge.

A Thinner Voigt, But Still Vocally Rich

Deborah Voigt’s first Met Opera engagement following gastric bypass surgery is going well, and that’s no small thing, since “any surgery higher than the knees could, in theory, compromise the vocal mechanism… But in many ways, her dietary concession to the modern visual age turns out to be not all that artistically significant. She may land a few extra magazine covers, but what matters most are her detailed word coloring and inflection of the vocal line. Those strengths have come slowly to her over the years, but on Monday, she outran her costars in that respect. And that’s saying a lot.”

Texas Finds Its Muscle In The Art World

“Until the last quarter of the 20th century, Texas hardly existed on the cultural map of America. Virtually every one of the state’s major museums was built in the past 35 years. And, during the last decade or so, a new museum seems to open every year, inevitably designed by a leading international architect. Art follows money, and Texas money comes not only from oil but also from cattle, land development, banking, and insurance. You only have to set foot in a Texas museum to realise how generous wealthy Texans can be. But they are also sophisticated collectors who have filled their museums with works of art of the highest quality.”

Court: Naxos Not Allowed To Release Old Recordings

A US court has ruled that a recording company was wrong to release old recordings. “New York’s highest court said Naxos was wrong to release classical recordings by Yehudi Menuhin and others – even though they were out of copyright. The court said such recordings were still covered by common law. The victorious Capitol label, which owns the rights, said the decision had enormous importance.”