Michael Billington says that the UK’s proposed cuts to cultural subsidies in order to meet the high cost of staging the 2012 Olympic Games are stunningly wrongheaded. “The overall effect is dismal. It leaves the impression that the government is ready to rob Peter to pay future Pauls. Also that it doesn’t understand that artists, like athletes, need grassroots encouragement to achieve national standards.”
Tag: 04.24.07
SPCO Names Winner In Composer Competition
German-born composer Carl Christian Bettendorf has been named the first winner of a new competition for emerging composers sponsored by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Bettendorf will receive a $3000 cash prize – the SPCO plans to make the competition an annual event.
Zukerman Slammed In Toronto
Conductor/violinist Pinchas Zukerman brought his Ottawa-based National Arts Centre Orchestra to Toronto last weekend, and the reviews were beyond scathing. Zukerman, who has been a controversial figure since taking over the NACO, took fire for his programming choices, conducting style, and solo violin skills, with one critic writing, “It doesn’t get any worse than this.” Interestingly, the same program had gotten positive notices back home in Ottawa.
The Word You’re Looking For Is “Overreaction”
A group of British cellists traveling home from a performance on a nearly empty train this week took advantage of the abundant space by placing their instruments in empty seats. But “they were left astonished after being ordered by a ticket inspector to buy additional tickets” for the cellos. When the musicians refused, the inspector called police.
Karaoke-Related Crime: Illegal And Embarrassing
“What’s the difference between a wannabe diva pretending to be Sheryl Crow in a karaoke bar and someone who simply copies and sells the music without permission? For Tracy Ann Brock, 43, of Burnsville, the answer could be 18 to 24 months in federal prison.” Hers is the “first ever criminal conviction related to infringement of copyrighted karaoke music.”
Where Does Creative Writing Cross The Danger Line?
“Two years ago, school officials in Grand Marais, Minn., were on the defensive for suspending, and calling the police about, a student who had written a violent fantasy about killing a teacher. The student, David Riehm, ended up in a locked psychiatric unit for three nights. Then his family sued. … But in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, school officials say they’re more certain than ever that they did the right thing.”
Calgary Opera Gets A Big Gift. How Big? Uh, Really Big.
“This past weekend, the chief executive officer of Alberta energy company Centurion Energy International, who immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1965 after Gamal Abdul Nasser nationalized his father’s bank, gave Calgary Opera the biggest single gift in its 35-year history.” How much, then, did Said Arrata give? Well, the opera’s not saying, but the Calgary Opera Centre is now the Arrata Opera Centre….
A New Vogue For Mosaics?
“Few of the standard materials of art or architecture would seem more retrograde to the interests and the appetites of contemporary New York than mosaics. But the convergence of no fewer than four events suggests that the fortunes of this ancient craft may be changing for the better.” Of those, “the phenomenon that will make most people sit up and pay heed is the splendid implementation of the material in the new Greek and Roman wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
As Music Stores Die, Cultural Life Dies A Little, Too
Norman Lebrecht laments: “Something goes out of a town when its classical outlets close down: First Sam Goody’s, then Tower Records, then one by one the backstreet stores. Where does a guy have to go these days to get his Hammerklavier fix? … The loss of a place where people go after work to muse upon music, emerging with anything from a baroque obscurity to an armful of Mozart concertos, leaves a hole in city life.”
Yahoo Puts Lyrics Online, Legally
“Yahoo Inc. is expanding its online music section to include the lyrics of 400,000 songs, hoping to strike a chord with Web surfers looking for a more reliable alternative to Internet sites that publish the words without the permission of the copyright owners. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is touting the free service to be unveiled Tuesday as the Web’s largest legally licensed database of lyrics.”