“At a time when arts organizations and universities are struggling to pay their bills, Stanford University is tuning up to break ground on the campus’ first true concert hall with world-class acoustics financed by $112 million in private gifts. The 844-seat Bing Concert Hall … will accommodate everything from soloists to full orchestras.”
Tag: 05.06.10
Extra Funding Saves South African Ballet Theatre
“The SA Ballet Theatre has received sufficient funding to carry on without further staff retrenchments, the company said. It said it had received several large sponsorships since the beginning of the year.”
In Stratospheric Picasso Sale, The Public Loses
“One of the last great surprises of 20th-century art has come and gone, photographed in the sale room on its journey from one private collection to another. If it appears in exhibitions in the future that will be the result of curators fawning to some billionaire for a peep at what, in reality, should be the cultural property of us all.”
San Francisco To Get A Shining New Home For Jazz
“SFJazz will build itself a permanent home in San Francisco – the first stand-alone major facility in the country devoted to the swinging American art form. The nonprofit organization unveils plans today for the SFJazz Center, a three-story, 35,000-square-foot glass, steel and concrete structure that will rise … just down the street from Davies Symphony Hall and the Opera House.”
L.A. Philanthropist Max Palevsky, 85
“A baron of the early computer industry, he helped found the world’s largest chipmaker, Intel. He came up with the cash to save a fledgling magazine called Rolling Stone and bankrolled movies. And he used his immense wealth to build notable art collections that turned the Los Angeles County Museum of Art into a destination for lovers of the Arts and Crafts movement.”
Alicia Alonso To Join ABT For Her 90th Birthday
“[The] woman synonymous with Cuban dance is returning to the company and the Metropolitan Opera House. She’ll be there June 3 to celebrate her 90th birthday at an event that will include a film retrospective of her career and a special performance of Don Quixote.”
Where Ancient Greeks Met Ancient Buddhists
“Parisian museum-goers are checking out Greco-Roman influence on 1st century to 6th century Buddhist art from Gandhara, a kingdom that spanned part of today’s Pakistan and Afghanistan. … In Gandharan art, Buddha and bodhisattvas often wear Roman-style drapery and sandals, and their facial features and curly hair recall classical Greek and Roman statuary.”
Where The Audience Will Write The Opera
“Finland’s Savonlinna Opera Festival has invited the public to help it create an opera entirely from online submissions. The festival launched its Opera by You project on Thursday with the aim of having it ready to stage a premiere of the production in the summer or 2012.”
Take Heart, Theatre Critics! People Think You Do Matter After All
“An overwhelming majority of theatre audiences and professionals believe that critics are still important to the industry, according to a survey conducted by The Stage. Almost nine out of ten respondents (89%) to our questionnaire believe that critics still play a valuable role in theatre, although nearly half (46%) think they are less important than they were a decade ago.”
And Which (British) Theatre Critics Matter Most?
“A survey by British entertainment industry bible The Stage has voted the Guardian‘s two theatre critics the most valued in the business.”