“Spring for May,” launching in May 2011, is a festival “intended to encourage orchestras to program imaginatively, without regard to marketing considerations” and with tickets priced at $15 and $25. The seven bands performing in the inaugural festival are the Albany, Atlanta, Dallas, Montreal, Oregon and Toledo Symphony Orchestras and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Tag: 04.09.09
A New Ballet Company For Indy
“Almost four years after the collapse of Ballet Internationale, a new organization is seeking to reintroduce professional ballet in Indianapolis. Indianapolis City Ballet is backed by major local arts supporters … [and] Australian-born dancer and director John Meehan is serving as the ballet’s artistic chairman.”
Dallas Opera Finds New Artistic Director Right There At Home
“Jonathan Pell, longtime director of artistic administration at the Dallas Opera, has been promoted to artistic director. He’s the first person to hold the title since Nicola Rescigno, one of the company’s co-founders, who resigned in 1990.”
Stamford Center For The Arts Left Out Of Proposed CT Budget
“The two-year budget proposed by legislative Democrats last week did not preserve any of the line-item funding in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 fiscal years. ‘We didn’t think it was a wise use of taxpayer money to fund an organization that is in bankruptcy’,” said the co-chairman of an appropriations subcommittee in the Connecticut state senate.
Orlando’s New Arts Center: Saved By The Pork?
The opening of the Philips Center for the Performing Arts is planned for 2012, but recession-related financial difficulties – notably a steep plunge in receipts from the county’s resort tax – threaten to delay or even derail the project. What could get things back on track? Why, a Congressional earmark, of course!
Latest Layoffs and Pay Cuts: New Mexico Symphony
The orchestra has eliminated the jobs of three staff members, reduced salaries of the remaining 19 by 10%, and suspended pension contributions. NMSO management also hopes to persuade the musicians’ union to accept voluntary 10% pay cuts.
Wiki-ing The ‘Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’
“The poem ‘Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam’ by Edward FitzGerald has gone interactive, courtesy of the Harry Ransom Center in Texas. Visitors to their website can compare the five different versions of the text, tag the poem and leave comments, almost as though FitzGerald had blogged his work, rather than publishing it on paper.”
Celebrating Tomasson’s Silver Anniversary With SF Ballet
“America’s oldest dance company, turning 77 next year, announced today that it will honor Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson in [2010,] his 25th season at the helm. He is running a company on a $41 million annual budget, with 73 dancers and a busy dance school of 20 staff and hundreds of students.”
Why Mars Needs Women
“What similarities will alien life forms have to living things here on Earth? We won’t know until we find some, but now there is evidence that at least the basic building blocks will be the same.”
French Bill Would Bar Illegal Downloaders From Internet
“Anyone repeatedly caught illegally downloading films and music in France could be cut off from the internet if a new bill is passed by parliament this week. The bill would give French authorities powers to trace illegal downloads and cut repeat offenders off from the internet for a period of two months to one year.” Passage is expected.