The latest mash-up of old media and new technology comes in the form of a comic book designed and published exclusively to be read on cell phone screens. The comics industry has been slow to embrace digital media, and the project’s creators hope that their “book” will make a splash at this month’s big industry convention.
Tag: 07.25.07
ROM Reopening Not Drawing Expected Crowds
“Depending on how you look at it, the newly reopened Royal Ontario Museum is either half empty or half full. The Toronto museum said attendance is 50 per cent higher than average for this time last year. But at least 24 summer workers were recently laid off. Some of these workers said they were told to expect 10,000 visitors a day… In fact, the ROM is getting only 1,500 to 3,500 visitors on weekdays.”
Levine To Miss Verbier
Conductor James Levine has canceled his scheduled appearance at the opening of the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, citing health concerns. Levine missed significant time with his home orchestras in Boston and New York last season after tearing his rotator cuff, and is under doctors’ orders to keep his travel schedule light.
The Muppets Take Peachtree Street
The Jim Henson Foundation is making a major donation of Muppet artifacts to the Center for Puppetry Arts In Atlanta. The gift will include “500 to 700 puppets, including some of the first Muppets built; props; scenic elements; posters; sketches; and drawings.”
Caro (Finally) Comes To Chelsea
“Although he is widely viewed as Britain’s greatest living sculptor, received a knighthood 20 years ago and has been the subject of countless museum retrospectives, Anthony Caro has yet to have an exhibition in New York’s Chelsea, the epicenter of today’s contemporary art scene.” That will change this fall, when a series of gigantic Caro sculptures will go on display at a Chelsea gallery.
Aboriginal Art Auction Record Shattered
“A painting that hung for several years in a bank has set a new record price for Australian aboriginal artwork. The piece, by renowned indigenous artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, was sold for more than US$2m at an auction in Melbourne. The sale more than doubled the previous record for Aborigine art.”
Good Times For The Arts In Mad-Town
The arts are a hot ticket in Madison, Wisconsin, where the local opera company is about to hike some of its tickets past $100 for the first time, and other local arts groups which have begun selling tickets for next season “are reporting brisk subscription sales that rival or surpass last year’s by substantial percentages… [providing] more proof that the growing and increasingly competitive arts scene in Madison is still not showing any sign of a shakedown or contraction from being overextended.”
Teresa Stich-Randall, 79
“Teresa Stich-Randall, 79, a U.S.-born operatic soprano once praised by Arturo Toscanini as ‘the find of the century,’ died July 17 in Vienna, Austria, where she had spent most of her professional career… Acclaimed for her interpretations of Mozart’s greatest works, Ms. Stich-Randall traveled between the United States and Europe, singing in the world’s greatest opera houses.”
Detroit Taking A Liking To Slatkin
Could Leonard Slatkin be on the short list of candidates to succeed Neeme Järvi as music director of the Detroit Symphony? Despite some bad luck in past engagements there, Slatkin has lately developed a promising rapport with the DSO…