“Before they even set foot on a stage, the dancers of the Universal Ballet are a remarkable lot. They come from South Korea, a country not noted for its ballet culture, and their salaries are paid for by one of the most controversial religious leaders in the world — Rev Sun Myung Moon.” Now they’re coming to Britain. – The Times (London)
Tag: 10.23.00
WHO CARES ABOUT THE FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR?
“Among the merchants who had come together in Frankfurt, it was not possible to determine whether they were doing any business at all. Everything that was dismissed here in the name of the entire publishing business (“…did all that in New York before the fair”) found powerful confirmation elsewhere (“…after New York, there’s always something new”).” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
SECOND CAREERS
What is it that has got so many of Britain’s comedians writing novels? “Of course there’s cachet in having published a serious novel, but what jumps out from the current batch is how much there is to praise in many of them.” – The Telegraph (UK)
THE COMICS’ TOPSY-TURVY RUN
While the business of selling monthly, comic books flails, “its companion, the graphic novel market, especially in traditional bookstores, is booming. There are more hardcover and paperback collections of comics material than there have ever been in America before, and their sales have never been better.”- Publishers Weekly
BATTLING FOR POSITION
Daniel Barenboim began his 10-year contract as head of the Berlin Staatsoper in 1992 with great expectations of leading it back to the ranks of international fame. “But last month, city officials said he would not renew his contract because he no longer wants to continue with the administrative aspects of the job, and just wants to be the musical director instead.” Now entreaties to him to stay. – New Jersey Online (AP)
THEY ALL LAUGHED…
Raymond Gubbay, the “impresario who has spent the past 30 years putting on opera for the people – opera with red roses for Valentine lovers, opera for kiddies with teddy bears, singalonganopera for those who like to join in” has applied for the top job running the Royal Opera House. The newspapers laughed. The mere notion of a businessman, a barrow boy, running the Opera House! “It would be like asking the Grim Reaper to run an old people’s home,” said one music critic. But when I question the experts closely they are more reluctant to dismiss Gubbay. His business skills speak for themselves, he loves opera, he understands the workings of the Opera House, and actually when it comes down to it there isn’t an obvious candidate.” – The Guardian
“RIGOLETTO AS REIMAGINED BY LARRY FLYNT”
Chicago Lyric Opera’s new production transfers the action “to a dark Victorian gaming room, a males-only citadel of stuffed armchairs and stuffed shirts. The inhabitants are even randier and slimier than the Duke of Mantua, the opera’s tenoral anti-hero. Almost all the women who are allowed into this bad ol’ boys club are whores, playthings or sexual hysterics. Poor Gilda, Rigoletto’s virtuous daughter, is doomed the moment she steps into this crypto-orgy pit.” – Chicago Tribune
DOES ANYBODY CARE?
The most-recent winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition plays a recital in London. “To be fair, the Leeds International Piano Competition has a more creditable record than most. But how many of you can remember the name, let alone the sound, of the last two winners? And how long will Alessio Bax be a name to conjure with? Judging by the number of empty seats at his London concert last week, not many of us really care a great deal anyway.” – The Times (UK)