09.05.17 – Page 3 – ArtsJournal Wayback

Out Of Nowhere? London’s Royal Opera Gets A New Director

The appointment of Oliver Mears, who previously ran the Northern Ireland Opera, founded in 2010, “was a surprise, and I don’t mean that negatively,” said John Allison, editor of Opera Magazine. “He has a reputation as being a nice guy and a talented director, but he has no real international profile.”

Why Doesn’t More Arts Philanthropy Go To Rural Areas?

“Many large grant entities, both foundations and government agencies, seem to prefer to fund urban areas for clear reasons. Many urban areas have significant needs and funding in urban areas can have a positive impact on more people. Funders, quite understandably, want the most bang for their buck, and more people live in urban areas. It all makes for a reasonable piece of conventional wisdom, but is it accurate? Does an urban-centric strategy truly generate the most bang for the buck?”

Thomas Campbell Opens Up About His Time Leading The Met Museum

“Audiences are changing, behavior is changing, scholarship is changing, and I think I’ve helped move the museum in the direction that it needs to be moved in to be successful in the future. It required making some fundamental decisions, and now I’ve played the part I can play there, and I’m looking forward to moving on and thinking about the cultural sector in a broader way.”

Police Recover $3 Million Worth Of Georg Baselitz’s Stolen Art

“The boisterous sculptures and strident upside-down paintings of the Neo-Expressionist Georg Baselitz are known the world over. But when more than $3 million worth of works from his personal collection, including some he had created, disappeared from a German storage depot, it took months before anyone noticed. Prosecutors have [now] arrested three suspects, all of whom worked in the shipping industry.”

NYC’s Big Cultural Institutions Still Depend On Telemarketing

With the advent of do-not-call lists and cell phones, concentrated marketing by telephone may seem like a thing of the past. But the likes of Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music continue to do it, and they say that it still pays off. Michael Cooper and Sophie Haigney look at the numbers and talk to some of the workers who’ve made the phone calls.

And Broadway’s Next Dolly Levi Will Be –

Bernadette Peters. She and Victor Garber, who’s replacing David Hyde Pierce in the role of Horace Vandergelder, begin performances on Jan. 20, a week after Bette Midler and Pierce leave the production.

We Knew It: Study Says Trained Musicians Make Better Decisions

“In addition to the rich sensori-motor benefits early music playing may have on the developing brain, music training may also confer long-lasting benefits in complex cognitive functions,” writes a team led by Kirsten Smayda of the University of Texas–Austin. “The music classes offered during many children’s elementary and high-school education in America may result in improved decision-making ability as an adult.”

Ufizzi Director Leaving To Lead Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum

The first non-Italian to head the Uffizi, Eike Schmidt will leave at the end of his four-year tenure, not entering a second mandate as many had expected he would. The 49-year-old director was initially appointed as part of the Italian government’s sweeping overhaul of the leadership positions in Italy’s leading cultural institutions under culture minister Dario Franceschini.

Tag: 09.05.17