After 48 years, the Chicago Symphony’s long-time concertmaster is going to retire. “Samuel Magad made his debut with the CSO at 11 as the winner of the CSO youth auditions. He joined the first violin section in 1958 under music director Fritz Reiner and was named assistant concertmaster in 1966. Georg Solti appointed him concertmaster in 1972.”
Tag: 09.13.06
Write On – Readers In The Margins
“To many people, of course, the idea of marking up a book seems distasteful – a violation of the text, a sign of disrespect for the author’s authority.” But the markings of readers can also give the overlay of understanding by readers who have gone before.
Brit Artist Arrested For “Insulting” Turkish Prime Minister
“A British artist is facing up to three years in prison after he was arrested yesterday and charged with insulting the Turkish prime minister’s dignity outside an Istanbul courthouse where he was protesting against another freedom of speech trial.”
Lebrecht: Why Shouldn’t Musicians Have To Fly Like The Rest Of Us?
Norman Lebrecht is unconvinced by British musicians’ protests over new airline carry-on restrictions. “If an exception were made for concert soloists, executives would demand to carry their laptops, nursing mothers their baby kits and would-be jihadis their special-mix drinks. It is not even in the musicians’ own interest to set them apart as a special case for that would separate them from the rest of the human race at a time when their greatest need, in classics and jazz, is to be seen as integral and essential to the emotions and rhythms of the modern world.”
Librarians As Defenders Of Free Speech
“With the federal government ever more intent on spying on its own citizens, and on classifying, concealing and manipulating larger swaths of information and intelligence, librarians and library custodians are on the front lines protecting freedom of inquiry and our right to privacy.”
$100,000 For Unpublished Authors
“The Sobol Award offers the enormous prize for the best unreleased novel by an unrepresented author, with prizes of $25,000 and $10,000 for the runners-up and $1,000 each to seven others. The award — available only to authors in the United States — is the creation of Sobol Literary Enterprises, a for-profit venture started by technology entrepreneur Gur Shomron as a venue to discover talented, unknown fiction writers and help them get the recognition they deserve.”
The New Music Guy Takes On Dance
Having made a success of programming contemporary music, Columbia University’s George Steel is taking on dance for Miller Theatre. “At a time when things are looking bad around the country, and audiences are diminishing, and things are boring, it’s time for New York to step forward. There have been suggestions that New York is lagging behind, and we need to change that. You hear talk that New York institutions are a little shy. No, no, no. That’s not the way we do things around here.”
A Real Maria (Chosen On TV)
A British reality show is in the process of choosing a Maria for a new West End production of the Sound of Music. “Now the crunch is nigh. On Saturday, the three finalists from the 2,000 or so women who auditioned — Connie Fisher, 23; Siobhan Dillon, 21; and Helena Blackman, 23 — will have their last chance to woo the public. Then, after a 90-minute countdown, one will set off on a stage career blessed by Lord Lloyd Webber.”
The Tax Law That Kills Art Gifts?
Imminent tax code changes have American museum directors worried donations of art will dry up. But “some members of Congress saw the previous law as ripe for abuse and out of sync with most of the tax code, which does not allow fractional gifts of tangible assets and which tends to require that the public benefit for a charitable contribution occur in the same year that the taxpayer takes a deduction for the gift.”