It’s been almost ten years since the Vienna Philharmonic admitted its first woman musician. And now? “There has been no change in the m/f ratios in the Vienna Philharmonic in the last ten years. They still have only one woman member. And she is still a harpist, Charlotte Balzereit. And the orchestra’s opera formation has fared little better. Only six women have been hired, but two were fired after their trial year.”
Tag: 12.12.06
One Man’s Life In The Theatre
Wade McCollum is an acclaimed actor in Portland, Oregon. He’s got no shortage of work, but can he make a living at it? “I was making $7 a show in Los Angeles. I’ve made $130 a week. There is no average Equity wage: I’ve been paid between $7 a show and $1,000 a week. God knows I’ve lived in the car for most of the time I’ve been a professional actor.”
Harry Potter Publisher’s Down Year
Bloomsbury, the publisher of the Harry Potter books, has not had a good year (no new Harry). “Instead of the more than £20m profits that analysts had pencilled in for this year, it admitted last night that it will make closer to £5m. In the first six months of the year it made £4m, suggesting the latter half of 2006 has been a disaster.”
City Flashes A Little Leg To Attract Art Institute
When Charleston, SC lost a university (it moved), the city’s leaders went looking for a replacement. It contracted with a company that runs art institutes across America. “Charleston’s recruitment of the Art Institute is a particularly vivid example of the link that civic and state officials see between postsecondary education and local economic development, and it shows the extent to which one city’s leaders went to keep that higher education presence strong.”
Alagna Will Sue La Scala Over His Contract
Tenor Roberto Alagna walked off stage in mid-performance after the audience booed him. “What if they had thrown stones at me, or some crazy person had attacked me? La Scala should have protected me. The show should have been suspended. Instead they carried on as if nothing had happened. After all, John Lennon ended up being killed.”
Colorado Ballet Climbs Out Of Hole
“The Colorado Ballet ended 2005-06 with a $114,000 surplus, a big turnaround from the $545,000 deficit it ran in 2004-05, including accounting allowances for depreciation.”
It’s A Hit! (One Note At A Time)
Lasse Gjertsen doesn’ have any musical talent (he confesses), but he’s made a music video that’s become a monster hit on YouTube (1.5 million downloads). “To make ‘Amateur,’ Mr. Gjertsen recorded each analog beat and note one by one on video. He transferred the sounds from each video clip into audio files, which he could rearrange with the Fruity Loops sound-editing program.”
Mozart Fans Swamp Free Download Offer
Vienna’s International Mozart Foundation is offering free downloads of Mozart scores. “More than 600 musical scores are available for download on a new site, set up at the end of the year marking the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. The site received 400,000 hits in its first 12 hours of operation on Monday, so many visitors that it became overloaded.”
Rotterdam Phil Finds A Canadian To Run Things
Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin is to succeed Valery Gergiev as music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, effective Sept. 2008. Nézet-Séguin, 31, is the current artistic director and principal conductor of the Orchestre Metropolitan in Montreal.
The Ballerina And Her New CBE
Ballerina Darcy Bussell has been awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth. “The former Royal Ballet principal dancer was awarded the honour for her services to dance. Last year the 37-year-old announced her retirement as company principal of The Royal Ballet, but is continuing to make appearances as a guest artist.”