Gidon Kremer was such a hot young virtuoso that Herbert von Karajan called him the greatest violinist in the world. But to Kremer, playing the fiddle has always been about a lot more than great musicianship. Music is a political act. – The Guardian
Tag: 11.22.00
SCOTLAND’S OPERA PROBLEMS
The Scottish Opera is a financial mess. The company maintains that its level of funding from the government is seriously inadequate. The Scottish Arts Council wants to control the opera company’s spending and have a say in its artistic decision. – The Herald (Scotland)
THE POWER OF YESTERDAY
The Beatles’ “Yesterday” has been named by Rolling Stone and MTV as the most popular song since 1963. “The song, which lasts precisely two minutes and four seconds, has been played on the radio seven million times. It is the most broadcast song of the modern era, and has been covered by at least 2,500 other performers with the same sincerity you displayed when you sang it in the shower this morning.” – The Globe & Mail (Canada)
CHURCH TRUCE
In the middle of the second day of the court case brought against her by her former manager, singer Charlotte Church settles the breach-of-contract case. The settlement is believed to be around £2 million. – BBC
THE VERY GENEROUS KIMBELL
Fort Worth’s Kimbell Museum, which surprised the art world earlier this year when it was revealed that the museum paid $1.5 million in salary to two of its board members, has finally filed its tax return for last year. “The generosity of the board toward Cline and the Fortsons was paralleled by the nearly $1.6 million dispensed to its favored charities – more than five times the amount it gave in 1998. Many of the charities’ boards are heavily weighted with Kimbell board members, kinfolk, or employees, in spite of foundation claims to the contrary.” – Fort Worth Weekly
SOME OF AMERICA’S EARLIEST PAINTINGS
A caver in Wisconsin discovered a series of drawings in a cave that turn out to be 1,100 years old. “Experts said among the cave paintings were the remains of a moccasin and birch bark torches that may have been used by ancestors of the Ho-Chunk tribe (which now operates a casino in southern Wisconsin). – National Geographic
MAYBE IT’S BEEN LOST?
A collector says he lent the New York Academy of Art a painting worth $1 million on the condition that the school return it to him when he asked for it back. But the school failed to return it and he’s filed suit. – New York Post
CAPITOL PLAN
A $265 million plan to expand the US Capitol building in Washington is taking shape. The large 588,000 square-foot addition will be underground. “The Capitol Visitor Center, containing auditoriums, a museum-size exhibition hall and space for future congressional use as well as the usual visitor facilities, will be the biggest and most significant addition to the Capitol in nearly a century and a half.” – Washington Post
PT BARNUM OF ART
In the first half of the 20th Century Chick Austin brought a showman’s touch to American art. “Not only did Austin promote artists like Picasso, Balthus, Mondrian and Dali when they were virtually unknown in the United States, but he also amassed an important collection of masterworks (especially Baroque painting, Dutch still lifes and Poussin) on view at the Atheneum to this day. Alfred Barr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, told Austin: ‘You did things sooner and more brilliantly than any one’.” – New York Observer