“In a press release sent out Thursday evening, the company bitterly criticized the musicians’ union for rejecting the proposal and, for the first time, raised issues about the company’s financial stability and future viability. … The musicians responded by calling the offer ‘a bogus PR stunt.'”
Tag: 10.11.18
Lyric Opera Of Chicago Is Trying To Solve Its Money Woes The Way The Airlines Did
“Abandoning its past practice of adding competitive routes and bigger planes on a whim, the likes of American and United now have figured out that in order to be profitable they must limit capacity. Better to charge more per seat than risk a half-empty plane. … That’s exactly what the Lyric Opera of Chicago has been trying to do” — and it’s what its orchestra musicians are striking over. Chris Jones points out that, when it comes to culture in a city like Chicago, the economic arguments for limiting supply are not the only important factor.
Fyre Festival Producer Gets Six Years In Prison For Fraud
“Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison Thursday for multiple counts of fraud, including the failed festival in the Bahamas last year where the 26-year-old lured hundreds of millennials with the help of celebrity investors like Ja Rule and Instagram celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid.”
Met Museum Says ‘Heavenly Bodies’ Is Now Most Visited Show In Its History
According to the museum’s final attendance figures, the Costume Institute show of couture inspired by Roman Catholic vestments was seen by 1,659,647 people. (What, did they count every person who walked past a pope dress in the Medieval Sculpture Hall or The Cloisters?) That number exceeds the 1,360,957 viewer figure for the 1978 “Treasures of Tutankhamun” show.
Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre Gets A New Artistic Director
The company announced Thursday that acclaimed Canadian director Weyni Mengesha will become its artistic director, starting in January. Paired with the hiring of UK-based arts administrator Emma Stenning as Soulpepper’s new executive director in August, Toronto’s largest not-for-profit theatre company will now be led by two women after a year rocked by legal and internal discord.
When Pop Icons Turn Political – What Does It Mean?
Ordinarily, the fact that a celebrated pop star would offer her thoughts on the political scene wouldn’t attract all that much attention. What is different in Swift’s case is that, at least until now, she has scrupulously avoided partisan politicking, to the point where she has been denounced for her “political silence.” In an Instagram post, she explained that recent events had led her to become more open about her political beliefs, and I’m sure that’s true. More interesting to me—I confess I’m not an expert on Swift’s inner life—is what her intervention tells us about the larger cultural and political landscape.
Uh-Oh, What Did Patti LuPone Say This Time?
“I am exacting, and I push. If someone has the talent they have the RIGHT to be temperamental. They complained about Bette Midler when she was doing Dolly, but she wouldn’t be exciting if she wasn’t temperamental. It’s only the ones who don’t have the talent and are temperamental who make you say, ‘Just get out of here!'”
Sympathy for the monster: a Frankenstein opera-in-progress debuts at Green-Wood Cemetery
After walking through David Lang’s Mile Long Opera on the High Line last week, I thought Gregg Kallor’s double bill of The Tell-Tale Heart and still-in-progress Frankenstein at the Green-Wood Cemetery catacomb in Brooklyn almost seemed mainstream — well, somewhat.
Banksy’s Hanky-Panky at Sotheby’s, Part II: Can You Create a New Work by Shredding an Old One?
While Banksy’s prank has become the talk of the art world, there’s no consensus about what to make of it. People’s interpretations of the deeper significance (or lack thereof) of Banksy’s provocation are colored by how they regard the perpetrator, the art market in general and the auction market in particular.
Classical music reborn
What would classical music be like, after it’s reborn as a contemporary art? When it involves people far more diverse than what we see now? Here’s part one of an answer.