“Now 32, Tamara Rojo is at her peak, capable of exquisite refinement and outrageous daring, of voluptuous sensuality and mercurial temper. “I believe an artist should be the channel for all those things. I want to know what each choreographer has to tell me; the way to do that is to embrace the style of each ballet we do rather than adapting it to what suits me.”
Tag: 10.29.07
Brian Cox On American Theatre: They’re “TV Dramas”
“I always find the American theater is slightly locked in the nineteenth century. Everything is psychologically based. And I’ve seen some really good stuff recently, but I’ve seen some plays that in England would have been called television drama.”
Police Crack Down On New Orleans Culture
“Funeral processions are an essential element of New Orleans culture, and the impromptu variety in particular — honoring the passing of someone of distinction, especially a musician — are a time-honored tradition in neighborhoods like Tremé, which some consider the oldest black neighborhood in America.” But police have cracked down on the processions, amid charges they’re attacking New Orleans culture.
The World’s Top 100 Geniuses
Here’s a list…
Why Musicals Aren’t Taken More Seriously
Musicals are fine for what they are, says Mark Ravenhill, but they frequently have “as much to do with a night of good theatre as homemade porn does with a lifelong relationship.” So why do purveyors of such pap believe that they deserve the same serious treatment from critics as Pinter and Shakespeare receive?
UK Museums Score Art Bequest Worth Over $200m
“A collection of artworks, which is thought to be worth up to £100m ($206m), has been donated to the Tate and the National Gallery. British art collector Simon Sainsbury, who died last year, bequeathed 18 paintings from artists including Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin and Lucian Freud.”
2006 Donation Rankings Released
“Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts was the top recipient of private donations among U.S. arts organizations in 2006, with a total of $185.8 million, according to a survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy released today. New York’s Museum of Modern Art was No. 2 in the survey, with $133.5 million raised.” Others in the top rankings included the Smithsonian, Lincoln Center, Metropolitan Opera, and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.
Greenberg Violin Concerto Premieres
The world premiere of a violin concerto was given on Sunday at Carnegie Hall with Joshua Bell as soloist and Roberto Abbado leading the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Ordinarily, this might not be an event worthy of national attention, but in this case, the composer was 15-year-old Jay Greenberg, whose 5th symphony was recorded last year by the London Symphony, and who has been compared to Mozart and Mendelssohn. “Greenberg skilfully leads the listener through a gamut of emotions with touches of 21st-century tonality, excitement and lyricism. It’s a compelling addition to the genre.”
Pittsburgh Opera Chief Jumping To DC
“Mark Weinstein, the Pittsburgh Opera’s general director, has accepted the position of executive director at Washington National Opera, where he will work with its general director, the renowned tenor Mr. Domingo, in running the $32 million company… In the fiscal year that ended in June, the Pittsburgh Opera, which has an annual operating budget of $8 million, had a surplus of around $300,000.”
Churchill Painting To Hit The Block
“A painting by Winston Churchill, which President Harry Truman called one of his ‘most valued possessions’ after receiving it as a gift from the British prime minister in 1951, will be sold at Sotheby’s, the auction house said Saturday… In a note accompanying the gift, Churchill described the painting, now valued at up to $1.03 million, as ‘about as presentable as anything I can produce.'”