“The Las Vegas Philharmonic’s controversial board president, Barbara Woollen, has stepped down amid leadership conflicts and financial problems within the organization. Woollen submitted her resignation to the board last week in a fiery e-mail that criticized the board, conductor David Itkin and associate conductor Dick McGee.”
Tag: 12.23.08
Airline-Style ‘Demand Pricing’ Comes To Arts Venues
“The idea of charging a premium for desirable seats, as Northwest and U.S. Airways do for aisle and exit-row seats, is catching on with symphonies, ballets, operas and theater companies trying to get greater bang for the buck from ticket sales.”
Two Violinists With Moscow Virtuosi Severely Injured In Attacks
“Georgy Tsai, from the Moscow Virtuosi chamber orchestra, was assaulted and robbed in the Russian capital on Sunday evening. Attackers stabbed him in the stomach, slashed his hands and stole his bag near his home. Denis Shulgin, another violinist with the orchestra, suffered a fractured skull after being assaulted the following evening.”
Ballet BC Avoids Bankruptcy (But That’s Not Enough)
“Ballet British Columbia has sold enough tickets to The Nutcracker to keep its head above water – but now it says it needs $200,000[Can] more to survive into the new year.”
WashPost, Sun To Share Content
“The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun – longtime rivals for influence and readers in and outside the Beltway – announced Tuesday they will soon share news and sports stories as well as photos.”
Jürgen Flimm To Take Over Berlin Staatsoper in 2010
“German director Juergen Flimm leaves the prestigious Salzburg Festival to become the new general manager of Berlin’s famed Staatsoper. He’ll face two obstacles: a cash-strapped German capital and Daniel Barenboim.”
Ontario Orchestra’s Crisis Was A Long Time Coming
“Orchestra London’s brush with bankruptcy has been years in the works, its near demise the result of spending that surged way ahead of revenue.”
UK’s Oldest Museum To Close For Yearlong Facelift
“Culture-seekers have one day left to visit the UK’s oldest public museum – Oxford University’s Ashmolean – before it closes its doors for nearly a year. The 325-year-old visitor attraction will be shut to the public from 23 December for a £61m revamp.”
How Fitzgerald Picked His Characters’ Ivy Alma Maters
“There’s a chapter in the life of nearly every major F. Scott Fitzgerald protagonist–after boarding school, before dissipation in New York–when he attends Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. … When Fitzgerald arrived at that crucial choose-an-alma-mater moment, did he just throw a dart at a crimson, orange, and blue board? Or did he have a more rigorous admissions process?”
Tintoretto’s ‘Nativity’ Began As A Crucifixion, X-Ray Shows
Jacopo Tintoretto’s awkward “Nativity,” at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, has been hiding something. “In the Renaissance equivalent of a cut-and-paste job, it appears that Tintoretto changed his mind about the subject, cut the original canvas to rearrange the pieces he didn’t like, then – perhaps two decades later – painted over parts of the result to come up with an entirely new composition. The painting that is now a horizontal nativity was once a vertical crucifixion.”