“Is this folly as Rome burns? The symphony is bleeding $1.3 million a year and nearing the end of its cash reserves. It’s asking for pay concessions from the musicians’ union, which is, to say the least, not thrilled with this new digital scheme, as some musicians fear it could divert money or devalue their skills.”
Tag: 12.20.15
A Tale Of Two Sculpture Groups, And Two Public Art Fates, From Philadelphia
“Both sets were fabricated from terra cotta, so this becomes a tale of two castings: one set preserved and cared for, the other ignored and lost until found in the most unlikely circumstances.”
‘Harry Potter’ Sequel Play Has A Cast, And A Surprise To Some
“In the films, Hermione was played by Emma Watson, a white woman, but [Noma] Dumezweni’s casting continues a tradition of imagining the character as a woman of color — her race isn’t specified in the novels and her status as ‘Mudblood’ in the wizarding world puts her in a similar position to many marginalized people in white institutions today.”
Top Posts For AJBlogs From 12.20.15
Bringing the World’s Most Difficult Quartet to Life
The intrepid Kepler Quartet is trying to finish their recording of the complete string quartets of Ben Johnston. Ben’s health is failing rapidly, it seems, and the project has taken on a race-against-time quality. This… … read more
AJBlog: PostClassicPublished 2015-12-20
AJBlog: PostClassicPublished 2015-12-20
Over the weekend I made my first visit to Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. I didn’t have time to check out the entire museum, and I missed an exhibit dedicated to the Hapsburg Empire.… … read more
Can New York’s Art Scene Be Saved From Gentrification?
“There’s been a bohemian class in New York that’s been sustained basically since the 1950s. It’s one of the attractions of New York. So the New-York-as-creative-hub mythology is actually not that mythical. People really are attracted to the city for that reason. But New York has also become a commercial hub in terms of advertising and publishing and TV production, film production, all of these different things, and for that reason, you could be kind of an everyday artist, but you can also end up getting a job in the creative industries.”
At The Colburn School, The ‘Last Piano Teacher’ Pushes Students Into The World
“Bidini’s rehearsal room at the Colburn School is a study in ambition, frailties, talent, insecurities and occasional brilliance. The room is bare except for a few chairs, a desk and two pianos that sit side by side: one for Bidini, the other for his student. The student plays, Bidini corrects. On and on it goes through scales, crescendos and silent moments between notes, just before a finger strikes a key hard or slips gently over it to evoke the longing or redemption in the composer’s mind.”
Same-Sex Pas De Deux: Contemporary Ballet Begins To Reflect The 21st Century
Alastair Macaulay: “Ballet exudes tradition, is surrounded by conservatism and still depends on a small core repertory of 19th-century classics. This century, though, it’s been showing multiple signs of changing its character. … What’s become evident, especially this year, is the new propensity shown by diverse choreographers to give equal weight to same-sex and opposite-sex couples.”