Is there a glass ceiling for women conductors? Marin Alsop: “I don’t know if it’s a glass ceiling, or a concrete or a fabric one, but it’s definitely a ceiling. I’m very proud that I’m to become the first woman conductor in history to lead the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (of Amsterdam), but I’m also appalled. It’s sort of surprising that one can still be the first woman in so many areas — in the 21st century.”
Tag: 04.14.05
Paris Opera: Tristan With A Viola Video
The Paris Opera is doing a radical rethink of Wagner’sTristan und Isolde. The company has commissioned video artist Bill Viola to accompany its new production. “On a 30-foot-wide screen above and behind the somberly lighted space peopled by the singers, images that recall some of Mr. Viola’s well-known video pieces variously offer literal, metaphorical and even spiritual complements to one of mythology’s most famous and tragic love stories. With only the preludes played to a closed curtain, Mr. Viola’s multi-toned video poem runs for some 3 hours 40 minutes, a full-length spectacle in its own right.”
Lit Bloggers Band Together For Book Club
“Hoping to promote overlooked contemporary literary fiction, 20 literary bloggers have created Read This! Four times a year, the Litblog Co-op will share its pick with readers, with the first announcement coming May 15.” The idea is to see if coordinated focus on the same books will help promote them.
The Problem With Writing Too Much
Where many authors struggle to write 1000 words a day, others crank out full novels at a super-human rate. Steven King is so prolific he even invented another persona to take credit for the overflow. A dependable high-performer can help a publisher’s bottom line. But can writing too much saturate an author’s market?
MoMA Notches A Million Visitors
The Museum of Modern Art has had 1 million visitors since its new building opened in November. “If the current rate of visits continues, the museum expects to have twice as many visitors this year as the 1.5 million it received annually in the mid-1990s, prior to the revamp.”
Claim: Australian Arts Funding Is Inefficient
A recent review of Australian orchestras was dumped on for its call for reductions. But the report also took to task some current government funding policies that work contrary to the interests of efficient arts funding. “The existing system is poor public policy because it encourages short-term, knee-jerk reactions rather than considered, long-term planning. It makes proper governance very difficult for the boards of the affected organisations, which find themselves in a constant state of siege. And it means that arts ministers are constantly put in a mendicant position in relation to their cabinet colleagues.”
Performers Warned Off Edinburgh Fringe Venue
Performers at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival are being warned not to use space in one of the Festival’s largest venues after the theatre failed to pay a third of the performers who had worked there. “As the second largest venue in the Cowgate, with a capacity to hold 36 shows, it is a big loss for the Fringe. The Underbelly, which can hold more than 60 shows, is the only larger venue in the area. City festival leaders last night said it was a great blow for the prestigious event and called on new venues to come forward to bridge the gap.”
MP3 Blogs – A Future In Court?
“MP3 bloggers, as they are known, are people who hunt down and post musical gems — usually hard-to-find or niche MP3s — for others to discuss and, for a limited time, download.” They’re getting an audience, and it’s growing. But legally are such blogs going to pass muster?
La Scala Backer Threatens Funding
The businessman who abruptly quit as president of the La Scala orchestra Monday has said he was disgusted with the opera house’s unions. “Fedele Confalonieri, chairman of the Mediaset media conglomerate, also said the company might withdraw its financing of the orchestra. In an interview at Mediaset’s Rome offices, Mr. Confalonieri said the company had paid at least $700,000 a year for Sunday-morning concert broadcasts on one of its channels.”