A Canadian architecture firm has won the commission to design the Mariinsky Theatre’s opera house. “Diamond + Schmitt prevailed over four other finalists – one from Germany and three Russian firms – to win the Mariinsky which, with a budget of €295-million (about $452-million, all of which will be paid by the Russian government) and a completion date of no later than December 2011, has been hyped as ‘Russia’s most important building project in 70 years’….”
Tag: 07.29.09
Jazz Composer And Theorist George Russell Dies At 86
“George Russell, a composer, educator and theorist who had a powerful effect on the jazz forms and methods that have evolved from the 1950s to the present, has died. … A MacArthur Foundation Award winner, a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and a Distinguished Artist-in-Residence Emeritus at the New England Conservatory, where he taught for 35 years, Russell died Monday in Boston of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.”
LA City Council Eyes $30M Loan To Lure Cirque Du Soleil
“The Los Angeles City Council is weighing a plan to issue a $30-million loan that would allow the owner of the Hollywood & Highland shopping mall to retrofit a theater so it can house a decade of performances by Cirque du Soleil. CIM Group … hopes to bring the acrobatic performances to the venue starting in 2011. In exchange for the loan, CIM and its partners would pledge to create at least 858 jobs, according to the proposal.”
The Upside And The Downside Of Google Books
Editorial: “Google’s effort could create new interest in millions of out-of-print books, which would be made available at no cost at public libraries,” even as authors and publishers would benefit financially from revenues generated elsewhere. But “the Department of Justice should make sure adequate protections are built” into Google’s right to orphaned books, while the company should “do a better job of showing how it will respect privacy” of readers.
Louvre Launching English-Language Online Database
“Not being in France and not being able to read French are no longer good excuses for not immersing yourself in the collection of the Louvre. On Wednesday, the museum plans to announce that it will make an English-language version of its online database available on its Web site, louvre.fr, starting Thursday.”
Standing In Line At TKTS: It’s A Social Good
“Our mission is in large part to promote conversations about theater. You do that in person,” says Victoria Bailey, executive director of the Theater Development Fund, which runs TKTS. “There is an urban fellowship about that experience.”
ACLU Steps Up The Privacy Debate Over Google Books
“The ACLU and other organizations are turning up the heat on Google to protect readers’ privacy. The groups are concerned that Google’s plan to significantly expand Google Books does not come with a policy to keep users’ reading habits safe from prying eyes. … The ACLU worries that the monitoring of readers’ online browsing and buying activities will expand along with the number of titles.”
Film Lovers Fret As Cahiers Du Cinema Changes Hands
“Cinéphiles everywhere greeted with alarm the news this February that Cahiers du Cinéma, the most venerable film magazine in the world, had been sold to the English art publisher Phaidon. … No other magazine has proved so extravagantly, and for so long, that film criticism can be vital to filmmaking. Last week’s announcement that Phaidon had appointed Stéphane Delorme as the new editor quieted anxieties.”
US Military Caused ‘Major Damage’ To Ruins Of Babylon
“U.S. forces did not exactly destroy the 4,000-year-old city, home of one of the world’s original seven wonders, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. … But they did turn it into Camp Alpha, a military base, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Their 18-month stay there caused ‘major damage’ and represented a ‘grave encroachment on this internationally known archeological site,’ a report released this month in Paris by the United Nations’ cultural agency, UNESCO, says.”
Auctioning Its Art, Bankrupt Lehman Hopes To Raise $1M
“Roy Lichtenstein’s 1982 print of the Statue of Liberty, once wall candy at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., is expected to contribute about $30,000 to the bankrupt company’s coffers when it’s offered for auction in November. Lehman will begin selling its multimillion-dollar corporate art collection in a series of three sales at Freeman’s Auctioneers in Philadelphia this winter.”