“Some prominent institutions, such as Columbia University or the University of Chicago, are famous for what they require of all undergraduates. Brown University has for the last 40 years been much loved in some circles, and disdained in others, for what it doesn’t require.” Now, Brown is overhauling its so-called “no requirements” curriculum…
Tag: 09.15.08
The Problem with the Long Tail: It’s Skinny
“While the growth of online retailing has resulted in the expansion of products that are available for sale in the long tail, there is little evidence to show that sales of niche products have significantly increased.”
Bonesetter – “A Potent Addition to the Operatic Repertoire”
Joshua Kosman calls the Stewart Wallace/Amy Tan collaboration “that rare creation – a new opera in which musical characterization, dramatic clarity and theatrical vigor combine to form an arresting and vividly memorable experience.”
A “New Standard” for Operatic Collaboration? – The Bonesetter’s Daughter at SF Opera
“[W]hatever anyone’s reaction to the piece (I had mixed feelings), it is certainly a work of total theater… The music is so bound to the libretto, visuals, choreography and special effects that it is impossible to assess the quality of Mr. Wallace’s score on its own.”
Leaving L.A.: Salonen Talks About His New London Gig
“I am leaving a very well-established situation after many, many years and completely changing my professional pattern,” says the conductor about his move from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. “It’s a scary, bewildering situation to be in, but also rather exciting and inspiring… This is a very interesting juncture in my life because I have no idea really.”
Texas Ballet Gets A Temporary Reprieve
“Retrenched but hardly done with a battle to survive, Texas Ballet Theater has accepted a $500,000 cash-raising reprieve as a signal to conduct business as usual. Additional pledges bring an emergency underwriting drive to more than $1.1 million so far, with anticipation running high for a promised cash kick-in of some $100,000 during the next several days.”
Phillip Roth Pans His Own Movies
No movie based on a Roth book has done so well. In a recent interview, Roth was asked what he thought of some of those adaptations. Not much, he answered. “I’m far from the movie world,” he says. “I just see if the people are presentable, if they have table manners, are neatly dressed. I don’t expect anything out of it.”
In The Online Era, Editors Take A Hit
“Much is made, in the age of online democracy, about the probable demise of the editor – about letting the work speak for itself without mediation or hindrance. Whether the unexpurgated internet can ever produce a Kerouac or a Lowell won’t, one suspects, be known for a long time yet; and maybe editors and cyberspace aren’t incompatible.”
London – Orchestra Capital Of The World?
The city boasts five top rate orchestras. “The transformation from the mid-Nineties is little short of miraculous, which makes it all the more annoying that the idea of merging two London bands to form a “super-orchestra” refuses to lie down and die.”
Why Michael Kaiser Can’t Sit Through A Performance Without Fearing Disaster
When Kaiser ran the Royal Opera House in London, the newly-renovated building suffered myriad technical glitches. “I was so frightened that the only public performances I saw in full from the audience were the opening gala and the last night of my tenure … I was simply too frightened to sit in the house.”