After 18 years, the phenomenon that is “Cats” closes on Broadway. Now just isn’t always forever. – New York Times
Tag: 04.21.00
YOU’RE NOT TAKING MY ROLE
Most of the dancers in the National Ballet of Canada apparently disagree with a judge’s ruling that the company must reinstate fired dancer Kimberly Glasco to the company. “Sources say the dancers are distressed that the most recent court ruling stated that Glasco must be assigned roles in the upcoming season. The spring season has already been determined, and giving roles to Glasco would mean one of them would have to step aside.” The dancers have hired a lawyer to represent them. – CBC
FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES
Recently, Iván Fischer, conductor and founder of the Budapest Festival Orchestra announced that he would make no more public appearances in Hungary, following a five year battle with the city over public funding of the orchestra. Now, international music institutions, including the Royal Festival Hall and the Barbican Centre in London, the Cité de la Musique in Paris and Carnegie Hall in New York, have sent a letter to Budapest saying: “We will turn to all the responsible officials with our appeal that the necessary means be taken to provide the necessary funding which will ensure the long-term existence of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.” – Budapest Sun
LE GRAND SPECTACLE
The Boston Symphony will play a concert in Paris next month under the Eiffel Tower as part of the city’s millennium celebration. The program features Andrea Bocelli and a chorus of 600 voices, music by Bach and Berlioz, and the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Officials are expecting a crowd of at least 100,000, and the program will be telecast and broadcast live throughout France by FR-2 (television) and Radio Classique. – Boston Globe
RECONSIDERING CLASSICAL ENHANCEMENT
Electronic amplification of classical music concerts has been a controversial subject for fans. But maybe it’s time to reconsider… – Boston Herald
CLIPPED WINGS
In Toronto, a task force seems ready to recommend that the Hummingbird Center, the city’s main performing arts venue, be decommissioned after the Canadian National Opera moves into a new home. Hummingbird fans are outraged. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
WHEN A CAR IS NOT A CAR
One of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous inventions was said to be the “automotive car.” Turns out that’s not what it is at all, says a scholar. – Wired
CERTAIN RETURN
Germany says it expects to find owners for all the art stolen by Nazis, and rejects the suggestion by the World Jewish Congress “that heirless assets be auctioned, like the so-called Mauerbach collection, which consisted of unclaimed Jewish art in Austria and was sold several years ago for the benefit of the Jewish community. That auction raised more than $13 million.” – Jerusalem Post
MUSEUMS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER
London is bursting with new cultural venues – new museums, new art. It’s a feast paid for with national lottery proceeds. “The Lottery is clearing out the musty nooks and attics of London’s large and small art galleries and museums, and with them the crabby spooks of the curators, scholars and civil servants whose eccentric decisions were embedded in the buildings’ fading fabric.” – London Evening Standard
LOOK WITHIN FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
Four documents, which were discovered inside an ancient Japanese Buddhist statue while it was undergoing restoration in Kyoto, have helped art experts confirm the dates of the birth and death of Kaikei, a famous sculptor of Buddhist images during the 13th century. The documents included a mourning schedule in honor of the artist. – Daily Yomiuri (Japan)