Mirriam-Webster so decrees. Along with embracing the adjective that combines “gigantic” and “enormous,” the dictionary publishers also got into “Bollywood,” “sudoku” and “speed dating.”
Tag: 07.11.07
Seattle Opera Scores Major Gifts
Seattle Opera has announced a whopping set of gifts totaling more than $21m to fund its endowment and daily operations. The donations come principally from three donors, including $15m from longtime supporter Gerald Hanauer.
NC Orchestra Hopes For Dramatic Expansion
The North Carolina Symphony hopes to dramatically expand its orchestra in the coming years as part of a $50 million capital campaign called “America’s Next Great Orchestra.”
Tampa Funding Cuts Threaten Orchestra Programs
“The city has recommended a 20 percent cut in the operating subsidies for these and other nonprofit organizations. For the orchestra, the figure could be $80,000 and will translate to fewer outdoor concerts and youth and education programs. The city this year had slated $400,000 in nondepartmental funds for the orchestra. ‘Although the roughly $500,000 overall in recommended cuts is not drastic, it symbolizes the marginalization of the arts’.”
Modern Dance In Ancient Land
Greece doesn’t immediately spring to mind when you think of modern dance. But “a 2005 report found more than 60 registered contemporary dance companies and many more independent choreographers. And there also seems to be an enthusiastic public for this kind of work, if the full houses and animated reactions seen over the last few days at the Athens Epidaurus Festival are anything to go by.”
Christopher Wheeldon Takes To The Stage Again
“British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon is to take to the stage for the first time in the UK in almost a decade. Seven years after he announced his retirement as a dancer to concentrate on choreography, he will perform a four-minute solo at the Ballet for the People gala at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday and Sunday.”
Terrorist Reprisal For Rushdie Honor?
Al Qaida threatens reprisals against the UK for awarding a knighthood to Salman Rushdie. “Ayman al-Zawahiri, deliverer of most recent al-Qaida messages, accused Britain of defying the Muslim world by honouring the author of The Satanic Verses, who was deemed to have insulted Islam.”
Kurt Vonnegut’s Final Words
Just who got the final interview with author before he died? Three contenders come forward…
Leonard Slatkin Sees Opportunity In Nashville
Post-National Symphony, conductor Leonard Slatkin has landed at the Nashville Symphony. “For the moment, it seems hard to believe that Slatkin would seriously consider a permanent post in Nashville–if for no other reason than that he was earning about $1 million a year more in Washington than the Nashville Symphony could reasonably afford to pay a new music director.” So what’s the attration?
Hollywood Execs Want To End Residual Payments
“The executives stopped short of saying they would demand an immediate end to residual payments in the upcoming, probably difficult negotiations with writers, actors and directors. But they were emphatic in calling for the dismantling of a system under which specific payments are made when movies and showsare released on DVD, shown abroad or otherwise resold. Instead, they want to pool such revenue and recover their costs before sharing any of the profit with the talent.”