“Europe is still the center of the literary world.” American writers are “too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture.” He added: “The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don’t translate enough and don’t really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining.”
Tag: 10.04.08
Increasingly Important – How Does Your Theatre Sound?
“This increasing importance of sound in the theatre is, in part, down to new and improved technologies, but productions at the vanguard of sound design are as likely to be lo-fi as high-tech. And it goes hand in hand with the trend towards more immersive theatre, and cross-fertilisation between theatre, film and radio.”
Curators In The Dark
Toronto’s Nuit Blanche art festival is a unique event, and the people behind it are interesting characters, themselves, “shadowy figures… whose imprint on the dusk-to-dawn art prowl will be noticed everywhere.”
You Can’t Please Everyone, Especially In Radio
If there’s one word that describes the philosophy behind the CBC’s revamp of formerly all-classical Radio 2, it’s eclecticism. But is so much diversity of musical style leading to an incoherent sound? “The playlists… often sound as if they’ve been put together simply to include all the kinds of listeners that the CBC wants to attract.”
Everybody Loves Mediocrity
Scotland’s Really Terrible Orchestra, which is made up of hapless amateurs and has gained quite a following on the internet, is actually mounting an international tour next year. The RTO will appear in New York next April, on the heels of a sold-out performance in London this year.
The Adams Ethos
Composer John Adams is just out with a new autobiography, which in addition to telling his life story, gets into the subject of how he came to develop such a distinctive, recognizable sound. “I felt that I could take [an existing musical] language — somewhat in the same way, let’s say, that Picasso took cubism and used it as a jumping-off point for an expression that was much more varied and much more dramatic.”
Shakespeare Hasn’t Paid His Gas Bill, Either
“A German fee collection agency has sent mail addressed to poet Friedrich Schiller, who died in 1805, reminding him to pay his TV and radio license fee.” The address the bill was sent to is home to a school named for Schiller.
NYC Opera Lays Off Staff Amid Fiscal, Mgmt Concerns
“New York City Opera has laid off 11 members of its administrative staff because of financial pressures and a lack of work caused by the cancellation of most of its season… The layoffs follow other turbulence, including a quixotic bid by the general manager-designate, Gerard Mortier, to take over the Bayreuth Festival in Germany, which surprised board members. City Opera faces a deficit of up to $15 million.”
Is City Opera Having Second Thoughts About Mortier?
“Mr. Mortier’s pursuit of the Bayreuth [directorship] gave the impression that his interest in City Opera, which opens its modest new season on Saturday night, might be waning. That perception was reinforced by an e-mail message he sent to several reporters, explaining that his Bayreuth move was intended in part as a signal to the City Opera board.”
At Long Last, Philly Becomes Dutoit’s Orchestra
Charles Dutoit has conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra hundreds of times, and this fall, with the venerable band still lacking a music director to replace Christoph Eschenbach, he becomes the de facto artistic leader of the organization. “He arrives not merely as conservator but as active restorer, with a stated purpose of initiating the orchestra’s newest members, who might not have been born in 1980 when [Eugene] Ormandy finished his sound-building days.”