Toronto’s Tapestry New Opera Works is putting on a unique set of performances this weekend: “its seventh batch of ‘Opera Briefs,’ successful composer-writer fertilizations that have given birth to five-minute baby operas. This year, there are 12 bouncing comedies, dramas, tragedies, romances – and one labelled as ‘suspense.'”
Tag: 09.27.07
PhilOrch Wants To Lead The Way On Internet2
“The Philadelphia Orchestra, facing declining audiences for its main subscription series and an attendant downturn in ticket revenue, is proceeding with aggressive plans to deliver offerings via Internet2.” Finding money shouldn’t be a problem – the orchestra also announced its third consecutive balanced budget this week, on an annual budget of nearly $47m.
Children’s Theatre In The Black
Minneapolis’s Tony-winning Children’s Theatre Company surpassed $5m in ticket revenue for the first time in its 2006-07 season, and finished the fiscal year with a surplus. Despite a 5% decline in subscriptions, the CTC boosted overall sales 15%.
Poetry Society In Turmoil
“The board of the 97-year-old Poetry Society of America, whose members have included many of the most august names in verse, has been rocked by a string of resignations and accusations of McCarthyism, conservatism and simple bad management. The recent turmoil was driven, partly, by fierce discussion among board members earlier this year after they voted to award the Frost Medal, an annual honor given by the society, to John Hollander, a prolific poet and critic.”
Walker’s Halbreich Could Shake Up MoMA
New associate director Kathy Halbreich isn’t the only change coming to New York’s Museum of Modern Art. “During the last eight months a younger generation has made its way onto the curatorial staff, with six new hires — all people in their 30s and 40s — in departments ranging from film, media, architecture and design to drawings and prints.” The upshot, MoMA hopes, will be a dramatic reinvigoration of the museum’s mission.
Dragging Ballet To Its 21 Century Audience
Is ballet irrelevant to a large chunk of the public because it consists of too many 100-year-old dances with no connection to modern life? George Steel, the composer-turned-chief of New York’s innovative Miller Theater, thinks so, and he’s using his venue to showcase new dance work in an effort to promote the idea that dance is better when its alive and new.
Sir Elton Defends Goldin Photo
Elton John is confirming that he is the owner of a photo seized from exhibit by British police under child pornography laws. The photo, by renowned photographer Nan Goldin, “shows two young girls playing together in front of a kitchen sink. One is skimpily dressed, the other is naked and lies beneath her, knees bent and legs splayed towards the camera.”
Melbourne Symphony Suffering At The Box Office
“The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is holding a clearance sale of tickets – with discounts of up to 60 percent – because of poor sales in its centenary year… Unpopular concert programs and a lack of star soloists may have cost the orchestra up to $1 million at the box office, [as] single ticket sales were down by 25 percent.”
Boston’s Citi Center Having Trouble Finding Partners
“Two of the key organizations that Citi Performing Arts Center has sought to merge or partner with, have formally cut off talks with the Citi Center,” formerly known as the Wang Center. “Leaders of the organizations cited a range of concerns, from the $1.2 million bonus paid to Citi Center president and CEO Josiah Spaulding Jr. last year to the impact that bad publicity from a series of Boston Globe articles about the Center could have on fund-raising.”
Prison Bureau Waffles On Religious-Book Ban
“Facing pressure from religious groups, civil libertarians and members of Congress, the federal Bureau of Prisons has decided to return religious materials that had been purged from prison chapel libraries because they were not on the bureau’s lists of approved resources. … The bureau has not abandoned the idea of creating such lists, Judi Simon Garrett, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail message. But rather than packing away everything while those lists were compiled, the religious materials will remain on the shelves….”