“Slatkin’s appointment, which consummates a torrid four-month courtship, is a coup for the DSO. His musicianship promises to refocus national and international attention on the orchestra while bringing to Detroit a conductor known for his enlightened leadership beyond the podium.”
Tag: 10.07.07
It’s A Multi-Media World (But Books Still Rule)
“Last year, Americans over age 18 averaged 3,530 hours with all forms of media — playing video games, paging through magazines, watching television and DVDs and chatting online. Books captured just 108 of those hours, about 3 percent. From that narrow perch, books stubbornly cling to an outsized importance. So while American lives grow more wired, books remain — barnacle-like — as the weighty coin in the marketplace of ideas.”
What Accounts For The New Iraq War Movies?
“While some may regard this trend as an example of Hollywood liberals’ flying the peace flag, the Iraq films are made by directors from the political center to left. And though their makers are trying to sway public opinion, polls suggest they are following it: In the latest ABC/Washington Post poll, 68 percent of adults from across the nation said they disapproved of the way President Bush was handling the situation in Iraq, and 59 percent said they did not believe the war was worth fighting.”
Clues To Alan Gilbert’s New York Philharmonic?
“Mr. Gilbert is a busy guest conductor. But the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic is the only major orchestra he has directed, and a look at his tenure gives clues to how he will approach his new job, a high-profile cultural position in a world capital of classical music.”
Movie Endings That Didn’t Make It
“So important are endings that some filmmakers can’t help but revisit their films, changing endings over and over again to get it just right. But what about the endings that were scrapped before release in favor of something completely different?”
The Kimmel Center’s Big Job
“New president and chief executive officer Anne Ewers has been in place 90 days, and what’s obvious to her already, after speaking with dozens of Kimmel staffers, board members and resident companies, is that before the center can move on, it must alleviate its $30 million construction debt, double its $40 million endowment, plan a round of renovations to liven its street presence, and address a series of complex acoustical issues in Verizon Hall.”
Philip Roth, Living Monument
“You’re just drawing breath to ask the first serious question of the evening, when the woman at the table next door starts in. She’s been giving him that look you come to know, the look you’d give the Brooklyn Bridge if you were a New Yorker on a night out and it sat down next to you: recognition, amazement, awe, affection, and proprietariness – why, that’s one of my landmarks!”
Drunk Vandals Damage A d’Orsay Monet
Intruders, apparently drunk, broke into the Musée d’Orsay in Paris early Sunday and punched a hole in a renowned work by the Impressionist master Claude Monet, “Le Pont d’Argenteuil.”
Rubens “Illegally” Exported To US
Christie’s in London has “unlawfully sent a £3m Rubens masterpiece to America, in breach of UK export regulations. In an unprecedented move, Culture Minister Margaret Hodge has deferred an export licence for The Hunt of Meleager and Atalanta (above), despite the fact that the painting is already in New York. UK buyers are now being offered an opportunity to match the price.”
Lower Ticket Prices, And…
This past season, its first full one at $10 a pop, the Washington’s Catalyst Theatre performed to an all-time high of 76 percent capacity, and this fall, annual subscriptions have doubled. On a larger scale, though, what Fortier’s daring move taps into is a growing acknowledgment that to attract diverse age groups and income levels, theater and other performing-arts organizations must come up with more radical approaches to pricing that address, among other things, the competition from less expensive nights out.”