“A voluptuous Victorian masterpiece by John William Waterhouse [depicting a sultry Cleopatra reclining on a tiger skin,] which had disappeared for more than a hundred years, has turned up in a log cabin in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The discovery was announced yesterday by Christie’s, just days after the news that another lost Waterhouse had been tracked down by Sotheby’s to an Icelandic trawler owner.”
Tag: 05.31.03
McLuhan Estate Vows To Stop ‘Libelous’ Play
“You can’t libel a dead man – or so the phrase goes. And it’s one that’s given comfort to scores of biographers through the years. On the other hand, it doesn’t stop heirs and estates from trying to preserve the reputations of their dearly departed, suing or threatening to sue at any perceived slight. Toronto playwright Jason Sherman learned that firsthand recently when the estate of Marshall McLuhan blew up a sandstorm that, temporarily at least, has stalled plans to mount his play about the late media guru at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre.”
Grabbing For A Younger Demographic
“Times are definitely changing in some of Canada’s symphony and opera halls. On a Saturday night these days, it’s hard not to notice the huge number of concertgoers in their teens and 20s. Many of them have never heard live classical music before. Some have never heard classical music, period. But lured in by cheap tickets for those under 30, they are quickly becoming converts. This is a vital renewal process for cultural institutions that have traditionally been seen as stodgy and elitist. And winning over potential new subscribers is also an economic necessity at a time when dwindling arts funding has left several Canadian orchestras on the brink of financial collapse.”
Strathmore Gets A Boost
A $100 million concert hall going up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. is 40 percent complete, but money has been an issue even during construction. But this week, $4.85 million in new pledges came in from wealthy supporters of the new hall, getting organizers close to their funding goal. The Music Center at Strathmore, when complete, will host a variety of musical ensembles, including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Touring Expensive But Not Expendable
Major orchestral tours, such as the one just completed by the San Francisco Symphony, are massively complicated and expensive affairs, involving the transport of over a hundred individuals, instruments, and other equipment. Halls must be booked, tickets must be sold or their cost made up, and hotel rooms must meet the exacting standards of the musicians’ contract. Says critic Joshua Kosman, “You might think a project like that would be expendable, especially in these lean financial times. You’d be wrong.”
San Antonio Cuts Staff, Prepares For Chapter 11
“Unable to meet Friday’s payroll for musicians and staff, the San Antonio Symphony has laid off nonessential office workers and may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors next week.” The move comes less than a month after the SAS cut short its season to save money and allow its board a chance to attempt to keep the organization afloat. Prior to the shutdown, symphony musicians had agreed to be paid late, or not at all, for several weeks in an effort to rally the community around the embattled ensemble.
Warland Singers To Disband
“The Dale Warland Singers, a bedrock of Twin Cities culture for three decades and regarded among America’s most influential choirs, will no longer perform after the group’s namesake steps down as director following the 2003-04 season. Dale Warland, 71, told his singers Thursday night he is leaving the group, which he formed in 1972, to concentrate on teaching and guest-conducting opportunities around the country and spend more time with family. The singers, who had long braced themselves for Warland’s inevitable departure, were stunned to learn the choir is disbanding.”
Gideon Toeplitz: The Exit Interview
Gideon Toeplitz departed as managing director of the struggling Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra this weekend, and he is not terribly optimistic about the future of the PSO or the industry in general. “I’m concerned that the industry is looking for executives who are primarily fund-raisers and marketers. I’m concerned about that because the passion for music and the knowledge of music is, at best, secondary, or may not be there at all.”
History-Making Ballerina Dies
“Janet Collins, prima ballerina of the Metropolitan Opera House in the early 1950’s and one of a very few black women to become prominent in American classical ballet, died on Wednesday in Fort Worth. She was 86.” Critic John Martin once wrote of her, “She is not self-absorbed, but is dancing completely and wholesouledly for an audience. On the other hand, there is no air of showing off about it, no coyness or coquetry, but only an apparent desire to establish and maintain a communicative contact.”
Fogel’s (Too) Grand Retirement Party
Henry Fogel has been the president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for nearly two decades, so one might expect the orchestra to put together a good-sized celebration on the occasion of his departure. But John van Rhein thinks that the tribute was a bit much, especially given the CSO’s current fiscal state: “Fogel, lest we forget, is the orchestra’s president, not its music director. I don’t recall Georg Solti being crowned with half as many laurel wreaths when he stepped down in 1991. At last report, Fogel was leaving his successor a $4-$5 million deficit, accumulated under his watch. Good thing the champagne was in plastic glasses.”