Most classical musicians have lives and interests that range far beyond the concert hall, but pianist Helene Grimaud has managed to become almost as well known for her hobby – a passionate interest in wolves – as she is for her playing. “Her advocacy work has aroused a certain skepticism in the classical music world. Some have suggested that she’s in it as much for her own image as for the wolves’. But surely there are easier — and safer — ways to gain publicity… On a broader, impersonal level, Ms. Grimaud said that at a time when classical music and wolves are devalued if not endangered, with both ‘there’s no long-term hope for conservation without education.'”
Tag: 11.05.06
Is Dance Doomed In Cleveland?
Wilma Salisbury has been writing about the arts in Cleveland since 1968, and she has seen various arts organizations thrive there, even as the city as a whole struggled. But when it comes to dance, Cleveland has always been lacking. “When the economy faltered, dance ensembles were the first to feel the pinch… Where are the funders? How committed are the presenters? Is it possible to grow a larger audience for dance in Northeast Ohio?”
Cleveland Won’t Be Orchestra World’s Montreal Expos
The Cleveland Orchestra is spending an awful lot of time in cities other than Cleveland these days, and it didn’t take long for rumors to fly that the orchestra, unable to sustain itself financially in economically depressed Cleveland, would shortly be pulling up stakes for months at a time or even abandoning the city completely. But Donald Rosenberg says that “for many reasons, it is nonsensical to consider that the Cleveland Orchestra would leave town.”
Dreaming Of A Brighter Future
Dallas Opera is three years away from the planned opening of its new home in the city’s entertainment district, and this season’s opening is in jeopardy from a potential work stoppage. But the company is eagerly looking forward to a time when it “finally will have the right-sized, properly equipped and acoustically supportive home it’s craved for decades.”
Critic Richard Gilman, 83
“Richard Gilman, an eloquent and exacting theater critic who helped sharpen America’s definition of modern drama, died at his home in Kusatsu, Japan, Oct. 28.”
Music Critic Daniel Cariaga, 71
Cariaga was a longtime classical music critic for the Los Angeles Times. “Danny Cariaga was the quiet, careful and profoundly knowledgeable chronicler of Los Angeles’ musical life for more than 40 years. He was a critic’s critic. His prose was concise, graceful, understated. And his instinct in finding — and his love of sharing — pleasure in all that he heard and witnessed was unique.”
Architecture – The Next Wave?
Architects have been producing flashier and flasier pojects in the past decade. But there are starting to be signs, writes Blair Kamin, that the most interesting architecture on the horizon speaks in a quieter voice.
A Theatrical Bent On Opera
Director Bart Sher doesn’t read music, and he doesn’t speak Italian. So he’s directing Italian opera at the Met. “Plays are harder to stage than operas, because in opera the musical form determines so much. If I were doing a play, I would work with the actors layer by layer, taking it slowly. You know, we’d go through a passage to show how Rosina is being evasive. Then to show how she’s being a bitch. Then we’d look at how the language moves and how it picks up. We wouldn’t get up to speed for three or four rehearsals. We don’t have that kind of time here.”