Tag: 06.01.07

Marin Alsop: Playing Outside The Niche

“When did being appealing or accessible a mean you’re unintelligent and unsophisticated? We have so many stigmas that we just can’t seem to get away from. Maybe for me the idea of crossover–that word has its own connotation now–but the idea of breaking down boundaries is something that I’ve always been interested in my whole life and that’s something I’ll strive for, and I think that’s what the future of classical music has to look forward to.”

A New Standard For Movie Theatres?

“As if to acknowledge how tough it’s becoming to drag people out of their houses for a night at the movies, with home-theater technology getting better and traffic getting worse, the Landmark includes a number of domestic architectural touches. The most striking are three “Living Room” theaters on the top floor that hold between 30 and 50 people each. They include sofas and side tables as well as overstuffed love seats and ottomans by the high-end French furniture company Ligne Roset.”

Halbreich: Beware The Status Quo

As Kathy Halbreich prepares to depart Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center after a 16-year tenure as director, she warns that despite its recent run of success, the Walker cannot afford to ever rest on its laurels. “Walker can never be a vanilla organization because other people know how to make vanilla better than we do. That goes for our city, too. Vanilla isn’t good enough. We need to make sure there is spice and adventure in all of our civic institutions.”

Buried Treasure

Not every museum looking for a new addition has the budget or the desire for a massive and eye-catching architectural design. But that doesn’t mean that a great space isn’t possible – it just requires a different kind of thinking. For instance, if you can’t afford a great museum rising from the ground, why not put it underground?

Omaha Sym Contract Talks Break Off

“Contract talks between the Omaha Symphony and its musicians have broken down. According to a release from the Omaha Symphony Musicians Organization, negotiations ended May 31 without an agreement and no further talks were scheduled… The musicians rejected the Symphony Association’s proposed 2.5 percent salary increase for the 2007 contract. [Another complaint is that] musicians are not provided benefits on par with those provided to the Omaha Symphony administrative staff.”

Eschenbach Out In Paris As Well As Philly

Christophe Eschenbach was already leaving the Philadelphia Orchestra. But this week also comes word he’s leaving the Orchestre de Paris as well. “For the first time in decades, Eschenbach will be without a formal orchestral appointment. “Orchestras, conductors and management are not working together anymore. The management in both cases [Paris and Philadelphia], I’m sorry to say, is amateurish. I’ve struggled with this quite a long time in Paris. I don’t want to do that anymore . . . I’m a free man.”

How Much Does The Internet Weigh?

“How heavy is information? Most of us know that computers represent all types of information–e-mails, documents, video clips, Web pages, everything–as streams of binary digits, 1s and 0s. These digits are mathematical entities, but they are also tangible ones: They are embodied and manipulated as voltages in electronic circuits. Therefore, every bit of data must have some mass, albeit minuscule. This prompted DISCOVER to ask the question: How much would all the data sent through the Internet on an average day weigh?”