The Smithsonian’s new African American History Museum, which is in the early stages of creation, received a $5m gift from Boeing this week. “Smithsonian officials say they expect the museum to cost in the neighborhood of $500 million, more than the recently opened Newseum and the most expensive Smithsonian project to date.”
Tag: 04.24.08
Is Opera On The Big Screen Actually Profitable?
The wave of operatic simulcasts in digitally equipped movie theaters appears likely to grow in the coming years, as companies worldwide attempt to duplicate the success the Metropolitan Opera has had with such shows. But “for opera companies, the payoff is not so clear. The emerging distribution model involves unusual alliances between not-for-profit organizations and the world of commerce.”
Eakins Painting To Stay In Philly
“It’s taken a citywide fund-raising effort and the sale of two paintings and two drawings by Thomas Eakins, but the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts have now managed to raise the entire $68 million needed to keep an Eakins masterpiece, ‘The Gross Clinic,’ in Philadelphia.”
Marking A Milestone By Embracing What’s Next
San Francisco Ballet is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a whopping ten world premieres in three nights. “Since the choreographers include Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, Christopher Wheeldon, James Kudelka, Jorma Elo, Stanton Welch and Yuri Possokhov, the season is automatically of national and international significance.”
Burroughs Gets Serious
“At 42 Augusten Burroughs is the first to admit he has written ‘more memoirs than anyone my age should be entitled to write.'” But he’s got another coming out, about his father this time, and “gone are the sharp one-liners, the exaggerated portraits and the wacky antics. In their place is a chilling and terrifying depiction of a soulless sociopath who can barely contain a murderous rage.”
Spoleto Reunification In The Works
“The Spoleto Festival U.S.A. and its long-lost partner in Italy, the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Umbria, have announced that they will renew an association that ended 15 years ago. The two arts festivals say they are discussing at least one joint opera production for the summer of 2009.”
Met On A Musical Roll, But Deeply In Debt
Peter Gelb’s reinvention of the Metropolitan Opera as a thoroughly 21st century company on the cutting edge of both music and technology has garnered rave reviews and increased sales revenues. “All of the things he has done have also been quite costly. The Met’s budget has grown more than 21% in two years, to a projected $268.3 million… Its deficit — despite energetic fund raising — is likely to widen to somewhere between $6 million and $10 million.”
Berlin Phil Musicians May Kick Rattle To The Curb
“Sir Simon Rattle’s future as conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic could be in doubt because of his own musicians. They are reportedly going to vote on whether to keep him in the next few days.” If Rattle leaves Berlin, he would likely be pursued by several major orchestras, Chicago and Philadelphia among them.
CBC: We’re Not Killing Classical!
The program director at CBC Radio has heard about enough of accusations that the network is “abandoning” classical music. “Classical music will remain the predominant genre on Radio 2, available seven days a week at various times throughout the day. New Canadian compositions will be heard virtually every night on The Signal.”
Winston Churchill Painting Sells For Big Bucks
A painting by Winston Churchill of a sunset over mountains in Morocco, a view he later took US President Franklin Roosevelt to see during World War II, was sold for $US420,000 in New York.