The British Parliament is going to investigate the business of ticket scalping. “Many music fans complain that ticket touts – who continually snap-up tickets for festivals and gigs before selling them on for inflated prices – are a huge problem.”
Tag: 05.03.07
Why Is Seattle Losing Its Theatres?
“During the 1970s and 1980s, Seattle enjoyed the benefits of a tremendously rich and healthy theatrical ecosystem. Below the canopy of the big theaters, there was a diverse network of mid-sized and small theaters driven by imagination, youthful optimism, and excitement about new forms. Seattle earned the reputation of being the best theater town west of Chicago. Then, with greater budgets and more competition, ‘the business of theater’ started upstaging the creative side… Now, the Seattle area has lost eight small theater companies in the past few years.”
IU Snags Alum Bell For Teaching Position
Star violinist Joshua Bell is headed back to Bloomington. Indiana University, Bell’s alma mater, has hired him as “senior lecturer” beginning with the 2008-09 school year. Bell will join a prestigious faculty that has historically included some of America’s greatest instrumental performers. He will not teach full-time, and plans to maintain his busy touring schedule.
Bell Named To Head Museum Association
“The American Association of Museums has selected [Ford Watson] Bell, 57, as its new president, marking its first change of leadership in 20 years.” Bell has a long history with museums and other non-profits in Minnesota, where he also mounted an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate in 2006.
Sponsors Pressured Over Burns War Doc
“Latino advocacy organizations upset about filmmaker Ken Burns’s forthcoming PBS documentary on World War II have stepped up their campaign against the film, pressuring two corporate sponsors to remove their support.”
Leila’s Choice
Violinist Leila Josefowicz is undeniably beautiful, a fact which should have been nothing but a help to her career in an age when sex is used to sell even classical music. But Josefowicz never wanted any part of the pouting sex kitten persona that so many other young female violinists have embraced in recent years, and she believes that her determination to keep her audience’s minds on the music has helped her reputation of a serious performer and champion of new music.
Brooklyn Cultural District In Jeopardy
Eight months ago, Brooklyn officials unveiled ambitious plans for a new cultural district, including an impressive glass arts library designed by architect Enrique Norton. Now, the project is foundering, and the library may never be built, thanks in large part to a revolving-door leadership at the borough’s library system that failed to generate any funding for the new building.
An Expensive Rivalry
“This spring auction houses are touting stunning images by masters like Rothko and Warhol, Bacon and de Kooning. Price estimates are equally stunning, reflecting the fight for market share between the archrivals Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Their competition has never been deadlier, riskier or more expensive.”
Which Instrument Covers Crinkling Cough Drops?
“Working with programmers, a computer vision expert and an adventurous saxophone quartet, [a Georgia composer] is creating a work in which a restless audience is very literally part of the music. Listeners and musicians are encouraged to wander around the performance space during the concert, while digital cameras track their motion. Those movements are fed into a software simulation, and Freeman’s algorithms, using parameters such as distance from performers, speed and ‘sheepiness,’ use the data to dynamically create a score on Pocket PCs attached to the musicians’ instruments.”
Järvi Re-Upped In Cincy
The Cincinnati Symphony has extended the contract of its music director, Paavo Järvi, through the 2010-11 season, and added an unusual “evergreen” clause under which the contract will renew automatically in subsequent seasons by mutual agreement.