The Audubon String Quartet has played together for 26 years. But a dispute among the members that started last February got out of hand and when three of the players tried to fire the fourth, he went to court and got a restraining order. Now the quartet plays under court order to remain together. “The judge can’t make them like one another, or speak to each other. For now, though, he can sentence them to make creative harmony, until further notice.” – The Guardian
Tag: 10.06.00
NOBEL EFFORTS
Last week Czeslaw Milosz and Günter Grass traveled to Vilnius Lithuania to unveil a plaque commemorating Joseph Brodsky. – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
LONDON CALLING
Low-cost videoconferencing brought together live collaborative performances between British and South African musicians in “a fusion of communications technology and live performance. An array of British and South African sponsors combined forces to present Call and Response, an interactive concert linking musicians and audiences in Benoni and Birmingham, United Kingdom.” – Daily Mail and Guardian (South Africa)
BAD TIME TO TOUR
Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, led by Pinchas Zukerman is on a tour of Israel and Jordan. But an eruption of fighting on the West Bank has forced the orchestra to cancel concerts. – CBC
THE WORLD’S LONGEST-RUNNING PRODUCTION
Every 10 years since the 1600’s the residents of Oberammergau have performed a passion play. “This year, more than 2,000 locals, almost half the village, will give 100-plus performances to half a million visitors. Qualifications for participants are severe. If you weren’t born here, you must have lived here for 20 years, or ten if you marry a lifelong resident. Until 1990, rules for women were even more rigid. Actresses had to be unmarried and under 35.” – New Statesman
FUNDING BOOST FOR NEA
US Senate approves $7 million increase in budget for the National Endowment for the Arts. It’s the first funding increase in eight years. – Washington Post (Reuters) 10/06/00
- DETAILS of Congressional funding for America’s cultural institutions (including money to build an exhibit at the National zoo for farm animals? “This will raise the lowly mule, chicken and pig to the same status as the zoo’s celebrated cheetahs and mountain lions.”) – Washington Post 10/06/00
OLYMPIC ARTS
The Olympics are over and the Sydney Games are judged a success. But there was an arts festival attached to the games too (as required by the IOC). How’d it go? – Sydney Morning Herald 10/06/00
- HIGHS AND LOWS: Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and French ballerina Sylvie Guillem pulled in audiences – the Asian Youth Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony and Australian Ballet attracted disappointing houses. – Sydney Morning Herald 10/06/00
RESTORING CALCUTTA
The Calcutta government has asked the British to help restore Calcutta’s British colonial architecture. “The Marxist government sees the conservation-led regeneration of the city’s neglected colonial past as part of a larger scheme for social and economic revival by promoting it as a business and tourist attraction. It feels the need to alter the city’s image from what Kipling described as the ‘city of dreadful night’ — summoning up the Black Hole and the slums where Mother Teresa worked — to ‘The gifted city’, as it will be promoted, emphasising its rich cultural and architectural traditions.” – The Art Newspaper
NOBEL EFFORTS
Last week Czeslaw Milosz and Günter Grass traveled to Vilnius, Lithuania to unveil a plaque commemorating Joseph Brodsky. – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
ATWOOD IS BOOKER FAVORITE
Margaret Atwood’s new book, “The Blind Assassin”, is the early favourite to win Britain’s Booker Prize. London bookmakers posted her as the 2 to 1 favorite. – National Post (Canada)