Canadian poet Anne Carson is a recluse, not given to public contact with the outside world. So you have to piece together her life from other sources: “it’s known that she teaches classics at McGill University; that she won the 1996 Lannan Award, the 1997 Pushcart Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1998, among others, and that earlier this year, she received the McArthur Foundation ‘Genius’ Award worth $500,000 (U.S.). Michael Ondaatje says she is ‘the most exciting poet writing in English today’. Susan Sontag puts her in a ‘less-than-fingers-on-one-hand group of writers’.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Tag: 09.14.00
HOUSTON SYMPHONY’S NEW MUSIC DIRECTOR
Houston Symphony names Hans Graf to succeed Christoph Eschenbach. Graf is currently music director of the Calgary Philharmonic and the Orchestre National Bordeaux-Aquitaine in France. – Houston Chronicle
CHICAGO SYMPHONY’S NEW CONTRACT
Musicians of the Chicago Symphony sign a new contract, making them the highest-paid orchestra musicians in the US. Pay jumps to “$1,770 a week, or $92,040 annually, in the first year, rising to $95,940 the second year, $100,100 the third and $104,000 the fourth. – Chicago Sun-Times
KURT MASUR’S PHILOSOPHY OF MUSIC
Masur directs his first concert as principal conductor of the London Philharmonic on Saturday. “Listening to the greatest music is equivalent to what a Buddhist monk is doing if he meditates for hours, independent from the surrounding world. I would like to bring people to a point where they feel that they need to go to a symphony concert, just as a Christian needs to go to church.” – The Telegraph (UK)
ITZHAK PERLMAN, CONDUCTOR
One of the world’s best violinists turns to conducting, making his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut. How’d he do? – Los Angeles Times
CAN IT BE?
Eliesha Nelson, the newest addition to the Cleveland Orchestra’s viola section, is the first black woman to become a full-time member of the orchestra. – The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
CUSTOMS AGENTS AS CRITICS
Why did British Customs agents seize the Beatles’ gold records when the discs were being shipped to the UK back in 1967? And why does Customs still have them? “On 10 March 1967, a Customs officer, B Lampert, wrote to a manager, saying: ‘If it is considered that sale of these plaques will not embarrass the department, then sale would have to be of a specific nature with advertisements in the ‘music papers’. I have no idea of the price we could expect to realise but I understand the Beatles are on their ‘way out’ (result of quick market research on teenage neighbours!)’.” – The Independent (UK)
THE DEATH OF COPYRIGHT?
“Copyright, a lot of people are saying, is obsolete. It’s a concept outmoded by technology. And good riddance to it, say those who work in advertising or Web site design. The fat cats in New York who sell ‘content’ are gouging us already with their ridiculous fixed prices. Everyone knows a CD costs something like 35 cents to produce; why does it retail for $23.99?” – The Globe and Mail (Canada) 09/14/00
NOT ABOUT THE FAME
Canadian poet Anne Carson is a recluse, not given to public contact with the outside world. So you have to piece together her life from other sources: “it’s known that she teaches classics at McGill University; that she won the 1996 Lannan Award, the 1997 Pushcart Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1998, among others, and that earlier this year, she received the McArthur Foundation ‘Genius’ Award worth $500,000 (U.S.). Michael Ondaatje says she is ‘the most exciting poet writing in English today’. Susan Sontag puts her in a ‘less-than-fingers-on-one-hand group of writers’.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
NEW BOSTON BALLET DIRECTOR
Boston Ballet is to announce the name of its new artistic director today. It is expected to be Marina Gielgud, the “controversial former artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet and Australian Ballet. She is also the niece of the late British actor Sir John Gielgud.” – Boston Herald