It’s been a year and a half since New York City Ballet began its search for a new music director to replace Andrea Quinn, who steps down from the post this weekend. For some, the search process, which is expected to be concluded sometime this summer, has been exhilirating, but some of the ballet’s musicians have taken to referring to the process as the “New York City Ballet School of Conducting,” a reference to the greenness of many of the candidates.
Tag: 06.22.06
A Film Fest In Film’s Backyard
Why does Los Angeles need a film festival? “So many people in L.A. are, quite frankly, ground down by life in the industry. We want to remind them why they came here in the first place. We want to remind them that it was for a love of film.” Oh, right, film. The stuff that came before the designer gowns, competitive canapes and celebrity pregnancy countdowns.”
Still Learning Toronto’s New Opera House
Robert Everett-Green isn’t ready yet to pronounce on the acoustics of Toronto’s new Opera House: “I’ve been in the hall four times (five, if you count a hard-hat tour) and heard music from six different seats on three levels. It has been a steep learning experience so far, and I’m not just talking about the stairs up to the fifth ring. One thing I’m sure of is that it’s mighty interesting to have a new opera house on the block.”
Uproar Follows CBC Decision To Bump Newscast For Reality Show
” ‘I cannot think of two types of programming that are more at odds with each other. It’s a terrible decision, I think it’s a wrong decision. It seriously diminishes . . . the spirit and letter of the public broadcaster. It’s almost as if the CBC is at war with itself’. CBC’s new programming team, led by executive vice-president Richard Stursberg, has made no bones about the need to shake up a public network that has seen ratings slide the past couple of years as audiences bailed in droves.”
A Plan To Help Diversify Chicago Arts Leadership
The Chicago Community Trust is investing $1 million in a program to try to diversify management of the city’s cultural institutions. “The trust cited data showing that non-Hispanic whites fill 88 percent of the management positions of arts and cultural institutions nationwide. Among the six participant institutions, whites compose 82 percent of management posts, African-Americans 9 percent, Latinos 5 percent and Asians 4 percent.”
The Curiously Uneven Royal Ballet
“As the Royal Ballet marks its 75th anniversary, do we find the troupe in good health, paying due homage to its signature creations while striding confidently into the future? Well, not exactly, based on this initial view…”
Is Art A Good Investment? Let’s Do The Numbers…
According to a leading index tracking art sales, “over the last 50 years, stocks (as represented by the S&P 500) returned 10.9 percent annually, while the art index returned 10.5 percent per annum. And in the five years between 2001 and 2005, art trounced stocks. But not all art performs equally. In recent years, old masters haven’t done so well, while American art before 1950 has been soaring—up 25.2 percent in the last year alone. And across categories, masterpieces (like the Klimt that Lauder just bought) tend to underperform lower-priced paintings by a substantial margin.”
Hadid – The Over-Rated Architect
Zaha Hadid gets a lot of buzz these days as architect of the future. But Witold Rybczynski thinks she’s over-rated. “The urbanism is slightly frightening—a vision of the city that appears unrelated to either human use or occupation. Brasilia on speed. Walter Gropius once said that an architect should be able to design a city or a teacup. Whatever the merits of such a dubious claim, even Gropius wouldn’t have suggested that teacups and cities were interchangeable. In Zaha’s world, they are.”
Free Mobile TV A Hit In Asia
Japan and Korea have launched free broadcast TV to mobile devices, and they’re a hit. “According to analysts Informa Telecoms and Media, more than 210 million people across the world will be watching TV on mobile devices by 2011. Asia-Pacific will lead the way in mobile TV growth. Informa forecasts more than 95 million subscribers in the region by 2011.”
“Corrie” To Make It To NY
My Name is Rachel Corrie will be coming to New York after all. A planned production was canceled earlier this year. But “Pam Pariseau and Dena Hammerstein, partners in James Hammerstein Productions, are bringing the play, critically acclaimed in London, to the Minetta Lane Theater in Greenwich Village. Previews are to begin on Oct. 5, with an opening scheduled for Oct. 15. The play is to run for 48 performances, closing on Nov. 19.”