Chinese musicians are everywhere. “For the first time it’s the biggest supplier of pianists in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, which opens Friday at Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall. Eight of the 35 contestants hail from the People’s Republic. This from a country that as recently as 30 years ago outlawed Western music.”
Tag: 05.14.05
Surely Serota
“Thanks to Nicholas Serota, Britain now has the most popular museum of modern art in the world. While the Pompidou Centre in Paris is visited by 3.5 million people annually, and New York’s Museum of Modern Art gained a million visitors from its reopening in November 2004 to March 2005, Tate Modern, which yesterday celebrated its fifth anniversary, is attracting more than 4 million visitors each year. This is a great coup, particularly since, by Serota’s own admission, Tate Modern’s permanent collection is fourth-rate, particularly weak in early 20th century art.”
Good Night For A Hot House
A 1983 work by Jean-Michel Basquiat sold at auction for $1.5 million this week, leading the way to a more than satisfactory $23.6 million night for the newly trendy boutique auction house of Phillips, de Pury & Company. Located in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, Phillips has emerged as one of the city’s art hot spots of the moment, drawing a decidedly image-conscious crowd to bid on the trendiest of contemporary art.
Competing For A Place At The Table
The competition among young up-and-coming classical singers is intense, occasionally brutal, and fiercely New York-centric. So what’s a young singer supposed to do to get a bit of attention? One increasingly popular route to success is to take part in the dozens of high-profile competitions held around the world. “For those who are prepared and mature enough to handle the pressure, and who are granted a bit of luck, competitions can indeed launch a career. Young singers receive coaching from famous musicians while making valuable contacts. [But] to be sure, competitions are notoriously unpredictable.”
32 Pollocks Unearthed In New York
“A trove of 32 previously unknown works by abstract art icon Jackson Pollock has been discovered by a family friend, who said Friday he would like them to tour internationally and be studied by art historians. Alex Matter, a filmmaker who knew Pollock from childhood, said the collection was among the possessions of his late parents, who were long associated with Pollock and his wife, Lee Krasner. About two years ago Matter stumbled upon the artworks, wrapped in brown paper since 1958 and stored for almost three decades in a warehouse in East Hampton, Long Island.”
A Mammoth New Theatre For The District
Washington, D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth theatre has been around for a quarter century without ever managing to settle down. Until now. “After playing for 25 years in churches, reconditioned auto repair shops, borrowed lodgings and places with stage ceilings only 12 feet high, the adventurous theater company today has almost everything its heart could desire. Just in time for tonight’s official opening” at its new home in downtown D.C.
Woody’s Walk of Fame
Woody Allen has been the man of the hour thus far at Cannes, and his latest film is generating more buzz than anything else on the screening list. But all the attention still won’t net Allen the festival’s coveted Palme d’Or – his film is being screened out of competition. Still, the French adulation for a filmmaker who is better known for his personal quirks than his movies in America appears to be well justified this time around, as Match Point is being hailed as Allen’s best work in decades.
Edmonton Symphony Back In The Spotlight
Less than five years ago, it didn’t seem too big of a stretch to suggest that the future of the Canadian orchestra was no future at all, with the cash-strapped and internally roiling Edmonton Symphony serving as the poster child for all that was wrong with the industry. These days, Edmonton has a dynamic new music director (who, incidentally, refuses to allow anyone to call him “Maestro”,) a much-improved bottom line, and a growing national profile, highlighted this week by a visit to Canada’s capital city.
Already-Did-It-Yourself Video
Those old homemade film reels squirreled away in a box in your attic may just have some value beyond your immediate family. “In Toronto, [two film historians] founded Home Made Movies, a database dedicated to helping people catalogue and preserve the tiny fragments of film, scattered in attics, basements, flea markets and second-hand stores, that they believe serve as significant documents of our informal, domestic social history. Alongside them, an international groundswell with the same priorities has emerged.”
An Operatic Power Player Goes Home
“Matthew Epstein, who left Lyric Opera of Chicago last month after a 25-year association, has returned to his former home base at Columbia Artists Management Inc. in New York. He agreed to a five-year contract as director of the company’s various vocal divisions. Currently celebrating its 75th anniversary, CAMI is one of world’s most prestigious artist management firms.”