The company’s board of directors has just held an emergency meeting to discuss “ways to keep the ballet alive through the current season.” Weak ticket sales for this fall’s two productions, including Nutcracker (every company’s cash cow) “have put the company’s future in peril.”
Tag: 12.17.08
Brendel Gives His Final Concert
77-year-old Alfred Brendel is taking the stage for the last time this week, playing Mozart’s “Jeunehomme” Piano Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic under Charles Mackerras.
Tate Britain To Restage William Blake’s Solo Show
“Britain’s Tate gallery will recreate the only solo exhibition staged by poet, printmaker and artist William Blake 200 years after it was held in London. The 1809 show, held in Blake’s brother’s shop in Soho, was a flop, drawing a single, stinging review and largely ignored by the public.”
A Symphony Seen And Not Heard
“Universal Edition have published the score of Arvo Pärt’s Symphony No. 4 ‘Los Angeles’ online. It’s the first symphony the reclusive Estonian has composed in nearly 40 years and it hasn’t even had its premiere yet (Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic will give the first performances next year).”
Canada’s National Youth Orchestra Robbed
“The downtown Toronto offices of one of the top youth-orchestra programs in the world were broken into late Monday night or early yesterday morning, and thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment was stolen.”
Cincinnati Cancels A Nutcracker
“Cincinnati Ballet has canceled a performance of The Nutcracker for the first time since it began mounting the holiday classic in 1974.” Only 140 people had bought tickets for the Dec. 26 presentation.
Canadian Network Pulls Plug On A Big Hit (To Save Money)
Canadian Idol is a huge hit in the ratings. But “CTV appears to have elected to not to produce the costly Idol in a year when advertising revenues are expected to drop sharply. The move would preserve cash as the networks brace for a recession.”
Will Actors Union Lose Its Control Of TV?
Hollywood studios sense an opening to break the Screen Actors Guild control of actors in scripted TV. Whether SAG loses the battle over next year’s pilots or not, however, it may have already lost the TV war.
So Just What Should An Obama Arts Policy Look Like?
“Arts and cultural leadership in the Obama White House can take many valuable lessons by following private, local and state initiatives working well here.”
The Nip And Tuck Opera
Skin Deep, a new operetta about cosmetic surgery, revealing the ugly truth about beauty, is cutting a new line in opera chic.