The Nashville Symphony has been hitting many high notes recently. But one little bit of dissonance: “Mary Kathryn Vanosdale, the NSO’s longtime concertmaster, was forced to sit out the 2006-07 season because of an internal dispute.” But she “recently prevailed in a private arbitration case, and so she will reassume her old post as head of the first violin section starting in September.” So what was the beef? The musicians are speculating…
Tag: 07.25.07
A Battle For Wagner’s Future
“The critical success or failure of Katharina Wagner’s Bayreuth Festival debut will not only decide on the future of what is arguably one of the most important musical extravaganzas in the world, but also on who takes pole position in the Wagner dynasty.”
Will Newspaper Websites Change Us?
Marshall McLuhan “once predicted that the advent of colour television would lead to an increased appetite for spicy foods. Call him a nutcase, but we got our colour television and then suddenly we were all eating Szechuan. Who knows what will happen once the fission and fusion settles down and we’re used to this new hybrid medium of the newspaper website? Who knows what unexpected cultural side effects will hit us when we’re finally used to navigating them and dealing with nervous information on the computer screen?”
Movie Rentals Soar To Record In 2006
Worldwide movie theatre rentals “soared 20.9% to $7.95 billion in 2006, setting a record for the six MPA companies by beating 2004’s $7.48 billion. The returns highlight the industry’s comeback from 2005’s year of the slump that saw rentals dip to $6.57 billion. Rental revenue in 2006 was equally divided between the domestic and foreign markets, with the U.S. accounting for $3.970 billion and the international market, including Canada, for $3.976 billion.”
Orange County Performing Arts Center Gets $10 Million
“Lawrence and Kristina Dodge’s gift will be fully realized once the center raises $20 million in matching donations. The couple’s gift brings the total raised for the Building on the Vision campaign to just over $176.5 million. The center still needs to raise about $63.5 million to pay for its expansion, which consists of a 2,000-seat, state-of-the-art concert hall, a 500-seat theater, rehearsal space and a restaurant.”
Disney Bans Smoking
Disney says it will ban smoking in its movies for kids. And smoking will be “discouraged” in films aimed at adults released under its Touchstone and Miramax banners.
Rain Spikes UK DVD Sales
An extremely rainy June has contributed to a 38 percent increase in DVD sales in Britain. “Overall sales rose by 12.6% in the first six months of the year, during which 108 million DVDs were sold.”
Smithsonian To Outsource Its Gift Shops
“Though the Smithsonian created a freestanding business unit to boost profits from [its in-house museum stores] and other operations eight years ago, the shops are now so poorly run that the Smithsonian said this week it is considering hiring an outside vendor to run the museum stores… Consultants say weak marketing, dull presentation and the absence of in-store events plagued the shops.”
Priscilla, Queen Of Midtown?
Australian producers are laying the groundwork for a homegrown stage adaptation of the 1994 drag queen-intensive movie, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, to make the long leap to Broadway. “With 23 tons of scenery, 514 costumes and enough glitter to entomb Liberace, a Broadway production could cost as much as $15 million, industry sources estimate.”
Is Italy Flogging The Getty For Political Reasons?
It may be time for someone in authority to call out Italian politicians for their obvious grandstanding and reject what some call the “harassment” of Los Angeles’s J. Paul Getty Museum, says Christopher Knight. “[The] escalating anti-Getty posturing is old-fashioned political demagoguery, pitched to voters back home… The emptiness of Italy’s legal and ethical claims for the Getty Bronze are beside the point.”