Orchestras in New York and L.A. may have made big splashes in recent weeks with music director announcements, but the Philadelphia Orchestra won’t be rushing to find a replacement for the soon-to-depart Christoph Eschenbach. “A search committee will be in place by the time of the orchestra’s annual meeting in September. The committee, whose work may take several years,” will canvas the entire orchestra as they work, and those in charge insist that the process will not be truncated to insure a quick succession.
Tag: 08.05.07
Chicago’s Card Drawing Solid Reviews
You won’t often find musicians and management types on the same page at a major symphony orchestra, but Chicago Symphony CEO Deborah Card seems to be on quite a favorable roll, even as her orchestra struggles to find a new music director and adapt to a rapidly changing business model.
Why Does Richard Wagner Obsess Us So?
“Wagner occupies music and opera lovers as no other composer does. Some unequivocally worship him, their trips to Bayreuth akin to pilgrimages. Others revile him. Many can do both at once, separating Wagner the composer from Wagner the self-obsessive…. Many meekly enter his world on his terms – and gasp in amazement.”
Boston Globe Editorial: Citi Center President Must Go
“There needs to be a course correction at the Citi Performing Arts Center. The nonprofit center has suffered from financial troubles and made tin-eared decisions that have cut programming and raised questions about its operations. Center president Josiah Spaulding is at least part of the problem. Now it falls to the center’s board of directors to figure out how to move the organization toward greater transparency as well as prosperity.”
Philip Larkin: Please Shoot Me In The Best Light
“The vanity of the late Philip Larkin has come to light in a previously unseen letter to a photographer. The witty correspondence with Fay Godwin from 1985 reveals how the womanising poet struggled to control his public image as he grew older. Half joking, half in deadly earnest, Larkin tries to prevent photographs being used that expose his baldness or girth. ‘I now have three conditions that photographers must promise to observe in what they print,’ he writes to Godwin….”
Cultural Olympiad Still Begging For Funding
“I have lost count of the meetings I have attended to discuss the Cultural Olympiad, the showcase of British arts and culture planned to run alongside the 2012 Olympic Games. … At the end of each meeting – and sometimes at the beginning – the inevitable question comes: ‘Is there a budget for the Cultural Olympiad?’ To date, the answer has been boringly predictable. … With just five years to go, with a year before London 2012 ‘owns’ the Olympic project, the arts world is still waiting for the Cultural Olympiad to be funded.”
This Building Just Screams Vivaldi. Or Maybe Coltrane?
“It seems every new condominium these days has its own tune, meant to convey its soul to potential buyers. … Developers and marketers have no clearly defined rules about what music belongs with which building. In general, though, buildings that are downtown or have modern designs seem to be willing to try newer musical genres like electronica. Buildings with long histories or those that are not specifically aiming at young buyers often use classical. Jazz, with its myriad styles, tends to cross geographical and architectural boundaries.”
For His 150th, Scholars Take A Fresh Look At Elgar
Marking the 150th anniversary of British composer Edward Elgar’s birth “are many broadcasts, celebrations, major publications. But exactly what Elgar stood for and what is unique about his music are more than ever being questioned. … Old assumptions are being challenged, clichés rejected. And in a welcome development, the major festival is in America, which Elgar visited several times to conduct his music.”
A World-Class Architect Ventures From The Fringes
Portuguese architect Ãlvaro Siza seldom builds outside Europe and “has spent his career quietly working on the fringes of the international architecture scene. … Yet over the last five decades Mr. Siza, now 74, has steadily assembled a body of work that ranks him among the greatest architects of his generation, and his creative voice has never seemed more relevant than now.”
Ballet, The Feminine World Where Men Call The Shots
“None of America’s most prominent ballet companies are run by women. According to a study by Dance/USA’s director of research and information, John Munger, in 2002 86 percent of the country’s 43 ballet companies with budgets of $2 million or more were run by men, while 5 percent were led by a male-female directorship. The landscape has since grown starker. … And there are precious few female choreographers working on larger stages….”