This year’s Art Basel Miami Beach opens, bigger than ever. More galleries, more artists, more media, more collectors and even more celebrities are participating in the fair than ever before — creating an energy unlike any other art fair in America.”
Tag: 12.03.04
Denver Center Theatre Chooses New Leaders
The Denver Center Theatre for the Performing Arts has tapped Kent Thompson as its new artistic director and Bruce K. Sevy as associate artistic director. Thompson and Sevy currently hold the same positions at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery.
Chicago Mourns Art Star
In Chicago, they’re wondering who might fill the shoes of Ed Paschke – for decades the Chicago art scene’s most visible and charismatic icon – who recently died. “In their view, Paschke’s unique track record of international stature, tireless civic involvement, generous mentorship of the young and commitment to Chicago is unlikely to be approached, much less duplicated, by anyone now on the scene.”
Rehearsal Manners – Boston Audience Needs Practice
James Levine has been using Boston Symphony dress rehearsals to actually rehearse. It will take some re-education though, for the auidences that ettend the rehearsals. “After the grand climax at the very end of the work, the audience burst into applause, which Levine acknowledged, asking the orchestra to rise. But then most in the audience began to leave, quite noisily and rudely, although the music director and orchestra were still onstage with work to do. Ultimately Levine had to whistle for silence, and cried out in mock-agony the dying words of the villainous police chief Scarpia in Puccini’s “Tosca” after he has been stabbed. “Aiuto, soccorso!” (“Help me! Come to my aid.”) More freely translated: “Give me a break.”
In Europe: Broadband Up, TV Down
Europe is adopting broadband internet at a faster rate, and a quarter of broadband users say they are watching less TV. Just over 54 million people are hooked up to the net via broadband, up from 34 million a year ago, according to market analysts Nielsen/NetRatings.
Field Scores $17 Million At Auction
Chicago’s Field Museum nets $17 million auctioning some of its art. “Included in the sale were 31 paintings of American Indians and bison by artist and adventurer George Catlin, representing the bulk of the Field’s Catlin collection, which the museum has owned since shortly after it was founded in 1893. The decision this fall to auction the Catlins, which the artist is thought to have painted during his travels in the American frontier in the 1830s, generated controversy within the museum and on the Field’s board of trustees, but museum officials said the sale was part of a strategy to focus its holdings on scientific materials and to expand its collections.”
Next Week Is La Scala’s Grand Reopening
Next week La Scala reopens in its refurbished home. “At first glance, little has changed in 226 years — not the terraced neoclassical facade designed by architect Giuseppe Piermarini, nor the intimate, semicircular theater. Yet hovering discreetly behind the 18th-century exterior today are a tubular structure and a multistoried fly tower, both very 21st century. They were designed by Mario Botta, architect of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, to update and expand the opera’s backstage area in a 60.5 million euro ($80.6 million) revamp that opera professionals say was long overdue.”
Arts Funding Cuts For Northern Ireland
Artists are protesting the Northern Ireland government’s plan to slash arts spending next year. “The government has proposed funding will be cut by more than 10% over the next three years. That would mean spending being slashed from £14.5m per year to £13m per year by 2007. The Arts Council believes if the cuts go ahead many artists and organisations will not survive.”
Apple Charged With Overcharging iTunes In UK
A British consumer watchdog group has taken Apple before the European Union, complaining that Brits are being charged more for iTunes than elsewhere in Europe. “Whereas iTunes customers in the UK have to pay 79p to download a song, those in Germany and France are only charged 99 cents or 68p. Back in September Apple defended the price differential, saying that the underlying economic model in each country has an impact on how we price our track downloads.”
White Christmas? What A Cliche
Why is Hollywood so stuck on the idea of a white Christmas? What a cliche! Especially when a great many of us will never see snow for the season. “When was the last time you saw a holiday film set in the sunshine states for any reason other than a good laugh? How many times do we need to chuckle at those hopeless wannabes in Beverly Hills who spray fake snow on their Christmas trees?”