Metropolitan Opera fan John Patterson started a website called Metmaniac.com to “celebrate and annotate nearly 70 years of Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. It featured nearly complete lists of broadcasts from the 1930s to the present, but the lists were not linked to anything. It also provided a message board for opera lovers to discuss shows and buy, sell and trade tickets.” But last week, the Met sent Patterson a cease-and-desist order, which shut the site down. The company claims “the name MetManiac and the contents of the site violated their trademarks and copyrights.”
Tag: 11.22.02
In Search Of Funding
Earlier this year the Nova Scotia government disbanded its arts council, looking for “administrative savings.” Now a group of arts supporters has formed its own arts support group. “The new group, Arms Length Funding for the Arts (ALFA), calls itself a ‘broad group of concerned Nova Scotians’ trying to restore funding for the arts.”
Is Arts Outreach Futile?
The need to widen public access to the arts has become a modern political mantra. If government is to fund the arts, the argument goes, then the arts must be made available to as many people as possible. They must be made accessible to new audiences, especially to young audiences, by opening doors, by cutting or abolishing entrance costs – and by reaching out to the public through activities such as the opera workshops in East End schools. The virtue of such efforts as these is now so universally accepted that it is striking to discover that many in the arts have got their doubts about aspects of it, and that those doubts are increasing.”
Is London Foundation Dumping Assets?
Three years ago the British government decided to wean the Commonwealth Institute off its subsidies and privatize it. A plan was worked out for a dowry of £8 million, half of which was for repairing the roof of its prestigious London building. But even before the privatization is about to take place, the institute’s “library is closed to the public, most of the staff on short-term contracts have been sacked and the unique collection of works is being put into vans, with the institute’s art, for removal to the underfunded Museum of Empire and Commonwealth, in Bristol. The trustees and governors are accused of planning to sell off the organisation’s prestigious headquarters for millions of pounds and dump its unique 50-year-old library.”
A Matter Of Quality We’d Say
CD sales are down because of pirating? Oh really? Maybe the downdraft is because most of the pop music out there isn’t very good. “There was a time when the release of an album was an event, and you got a lovingly prepared, carefully compiled collection of songs that contained only a couple of instances of the drummer being given his head.” Nowadays? Oh puh-lease!
More Than Just A Building
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is a firmly establisheed orchestra, but its move into the new Gehry-designed Disney Hall next season will transform its existence. “Overall in 2003-04, the Philharmonic will present almost 50% more programming than in the past. It plans nine world premieres, a season record for the orchestra. It will present two major international orchestras, and a stellar lineup of guest conductors including Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnányi, Valery Gergiev and Charles Dutoit. It will unveil five new music series from Baroque concerts to jazz and world music programs, and launch partnerships with such organizations as CalArts, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Getty Research Institute.” And oh, want to get in on opening ceremonies? It’ll cost you as much as $5,000.
Conductor Swap
The Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony will trade music directors for a program each next season. SFS’s Michael Tilson Thomas hasn’t led the LA Phil since 1985, when he was the orchestra’s principal guest conductor. The LA Phil’s Essa-Pekka Salonen will be making his SFS debut. “The conductor exchange is a rare event among American orchestras, whose music directors seldom guest-conduct other orchestras in this country.”
Producers Cooling Down?
The Producers is showing signs of slowing ticket demand on Broadway. Blockbuster musicals usually go years before running out of steam at the box office, but Producers is only two seasons old. “Advance ticket sales going into January and February have slipped; the overall advance is under $10 million (it was once over $20 million); and, according to ticket brokers, demand for group sales tickets has declined markedly.”
The Work Continues – It’s The Critics Who Change
Edward Albee had brilliant success early in his career, but then went through a period where he couldn’t do much right, at least as far as the critics were concerned. Then he was golden again. Albee, 74, maintains that the quality of his writing didn’t much vary during those wilderness years. The only difference was the critical reception. Similarly he was, and still is, driven by the same motives, still irked by the same social faults.”
The Work Continues – It’s The Critics Who Change
Edward Albee had brilliant success early in his career, but then went through a period where he couldn’t do much right, at least as far as the critics were concerned. Then he was golden again. Albee, 74, maintains that the quality of his writing didn’t much vary during those wilderness years. The only difference was the critical reception. Similarly he was, and still is, driven by the same motives, still irked by the same social faults.”