“A recent survey by the League of American Orchestras showed that blacks made up less than 2 percent of professional American orchestra musicians, while Latinos made up less than 3 percent. They are similarly underrepresented among chamber musicians and soloists. But that is slowly changing, thanks largely to the Sphinx Organization, a nonprofit venture dedicated to increasing the presence of blacks and Hispanics in classical music as composers, performers and listeners.”
Tag: 11.16.08
A New Life For French Film
“These are heady times for French film, which seems finally to have found a new voice after many years spent emerging from the long shadows of the Nouvelle Vague and battling the influence of Hollywood. French films are taking centre stage around the world and the names of French directors are once again rolling off the tongues of cinephiles: Cantet, Abdellatif Kechiche, Olivier Assayas, Agnès Jaoui. Is this the start of a new New Wave?”
What It Takes To Be The Best At Something
“In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice-skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or 20 hours a week, of practice over 10 years… No one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.”
Chicago Art Institute Gets A New Home For The New
“With its north-facing view of Millennium Park and a stack of roof-level sunshades that will filter the daylight entering the Modern Wing’s third-floor galleries, Piano’s design opens up a type of building that is typically an introverted treasure box. While that may satisfy Piano’s desire to make the Modern Wing transparent and contemporary, as opposed to the museum’s original Beaux-Arts building, it has necessitated… a ‘healthy conversation’ among [architect Renzo] Piano, his staff and the museum’s curators.”
And With Only The Briefest Talk, Famed Guarneri Quartet Decides To Retire
The storied quartet, together since 1964, is playing its final concerts. “People always ask do we have a five-year plan or a 10-year plan. The truth is that we’ve never had more than a one-year plan. I don’t think we ever talked about retiring someday.”
Subtitles That Sing
Why do movie subtitles have to be boring? Enough of those black-and-white lines of text at the bottom of the screen. Perhaps they should look like comic boook balloons…
Are Art Auction Prices Even Worse Than Reported?
Yup. Prices announced by the auction houses don’t make across-the-board comparisons. “They almost invariably compare the estimate of hammer price to a figure arrived at by adding hammer price to the commission that the auction house charges the buyer. The result is an apples-to-oranges comparison that makes the sale results look better than they actually are.”
Reich To Obama: Take Some Jazz To D.C.
Could President Obama give the original American music form a major boost by inviting it back into the White House? “Obama’s mixed-race heritage reflects the genome of jazz, which first blossomed when multiple cultures and classes converged in New Orleans at the turn of the previous century.”
The Coming Asian Art Shift
“Of the world’s 20 top-selling artists, 13 are from Asia, with 11 coming from China. Asian artists make up six of the top 10 biggest sellers at auction, five of which are Chinese. Experts predict that within a decade, the term ‘Asian art’ will be as widely used as ‘Western art’ and will be responsible for most global sales.”
Billy Boosts Broadway
“Billy Elliot, which tells the story of a boy from a working-class city in England who wants to be a ballet dancer, is shaping up to be the one bright spot on an otherwise gloomy-looking Broadway, where shows are crashing with the speed of emerging markets in Southeast Asia.”