“Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco’s oldest alternative art space, is turning 40 this year. Its name is now synonymous with the Mission District, and as hipsters flow out onto the street after an evening of experimental theater, art, or jazz, it’s hard to imagine the organization existing anywhere other than on that scruffy block of Valencia between 15th and 16th streets.”
Tag: 06.15.05
David Diamond, 89
American composer David Diamond was “prolific in many forms, including ballets and film scores, but his greatest contributions were his 10 string quartets, a large output of songs and, chiefly, 11 symphonies. He was part of what some considered a forgotten generation of great American symphonists, including Howard Hanson, Roy Harris, William Schuman, Walter Piston and Peter Mennin.”
Exploring The Wagner/Hitler Connection
“Brigitte Hamann’s new biography of Winifred Wagner, the composer’s English-born daughter-in-law, brings to light fresh evidence of the family’s involvement with Hitler and its complicity in his crimes. It took great ingenuity on the author’s part since the Wagners squirreled away their papers and refuse access to outsiders. But Hamann, a Viennese scholar, laid hands on Winnie’s letters to her best Nazi girlfriend and, with other sources, has assembled a dossier strong enough to have landed several Wagners in the Nuremburg dock.”
Spoleto Packs ‘Em In Again
“Box-office receipts for the [Charleston-based Spoleto USA music festival] came in at a record, about $2,000 more than last year’s figure of $2.53 million. This is the third year in a row the festival has set a sales record.”
Reviving Music Nearly Killed By Hate
The generation of Jews and others who perished in the Holocaust doubtless contained untold thousands of talented artists, composers, and performers whose skills were tragically lost to history. But conductor James Conlon is determined to bring attention to the music of unjustly ignored “Holocaust-era composers who were banned by the Nazis… Unearthing these lost musical treasures of the Holocaust has become a virtual obsession for Conlon, who begins his first season as music director of the Ravinia Festival on June 23 with a concert of music by Mahler and a virtually forgotten composer who perished at Auschwitz, Viktor Ullmann. Mahler and Ullmann will remain a season-long emphasis.”
Carlo Maria Giulini, 91
The conductor was music director of the Chicago Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. “Once, during a rehearsal with soprano Kathleen Battle, he left the podium and stood a few inches away from her face. “Your singing is very beautiful but your acting is too human,” he said, quietly. He wanted a “purely spiritual” effect. He proceeded to conduct her from a distance of six inches, and she sang like the angel he expected.”
Tearing Down Celebrity With A Simple Photo
The end of the Michael Jackson molestation trial sparked a predictable run of outrage in the tabloid papers which had already convicted the pop star in their pages. Phil Kennicott says that the use of celebrity photos to tear down individuals deemed to be too big for their britches has been elevated to a horrifying art form in recent years. “The camera is the weapon of last resort against celebrity. The camera is, of course, essential to the making of celebrities, but it can also break them with extraordinary speed and efficiency. The perp walk, the mug shot and photographs such as those [of Jackson] that ran yesterday are a populist scourge against people who are presumed to live by laws more lax and accommodating than those to which mere mortals are subject.”
Toronto Music School Hits Fundraising Target Early
Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music has reached its CAN$60 million fundraising goal early, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held this week for the school’s spectacular new Telus Centre for Performance & Learning. The early start was made possible when an elderly alumnus of the school chipped in an unexpected CAN$2 million gift to put the campaign over the top. The new building will provide the RCM with “two floors of academic space, more studios and classrooms, and state-of-the-art technology facilities.” A second round of fundraising, with a goal of CAN$25 million, will begin in the fall.
48 Hours Of Chaos, Beer, And Art
Call it a gimmick, call it a waste of resources, but there’s no question that the 48-Hour Toronto Film Challenge, which dares amateurs to put together a short flick featuring several mystery elements in only two days, is a hell of a good time for those involved. Unless, of course, you miss the deadline by five minutes…
The Show That Might Be Too Good For Broadway
“Is it too English? Will it be too expensive? Can they cast it? Will it resonate with Americans? These are the questions confronting the producers and creators of Billy Elliot as they contemplate a Broadway production of what critics [in London] are calling the best British musical ever… [The show] probably can’t be done for less than $12 million to $14 million and, with its large cast and crew, will surely have a weekly running cost of $600,000 or more… Casting is another issue. Child labor laws aren’t as strict in the United States as they are in England, but because of the physical demands of the show, [the UK director] says it’s essential to have three, ‘ideally four,’ Billy Elliots. Where to find them?”