This week on ArtsJournal: A Debate on Arts Education
Join 16 leaders in arts and education for a debate - now through Friday - on the current state of arts education. Will our culture suffer if we don't do more to teach the arts? ArtsJournal

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@05:57PM

A Rich Prize For Theatre, A Rich Conflict Of Interest? The close association of several winners of the $100,000 Siminovitch Prize, the richest award in Canadian theatre, to the Toronto theatre company Necessary Angel has led one former finalist to speak out about what she calls the "appearance of a conflict of interest." The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/01/08

email this story | Posted 12/01/08@07:42AM

Cinderella And Psychosis Cinderella was ahead of her time by giving her name to a fairy tale about the contemporary issue of "reconstituted families". Cinderella's "issues" are our "issues". The Guardian (UK) 11/29/08

email this story | Posted 12/01/08@07:40AM

Why Billy Elliot Matters For Dance The arrival of "Billy Elliot" on Broadway, coinciding with the reminder that the next White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was trained as a ballet dancer, has become part of the latest wave of "real men can do ballet" talk. The New York Times 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 12/01/08@07:28AM

Philadelphia's New "Arts Czar" Faces Challenges "I was told clearly from the beginning that if you expect a big staff and a functioning office, this is not the job for you," Philadelphia Inquirer 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 12/01/08@06:53AM

Frank Gehry - Not Looking Much Like Himself These Days As "two new buildings open -- one a library at Princeton University, the other an expansion of a major art museum in Toronto -- it's clear that the biggest threat to Gehry's legacy may be the Gehry brand itself." Washington Post 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 12/01/08@06:51AM

Right Now - Bad News Sells "The message from Hollywood increasingly seems to be -- to glibify it to a tag line -- bleak is chic. Hopeless is hot." Washington Post 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 12/01/08@06:44AM

Wait, Isn't That Backwards? Ivo Van Hove's Line In Screen-To-Stage Adaptations The director of Amsterdam's top theater company - known in New York for his daring stagings of A Streetcar Named Desire, Hedda Gabler and The Misanthrope - is making a specialty of producing great screenplays as live theater. Sure, we've seen it for years on Broadway with musicals (The Producers, Hairspray, The Lion King, Xanadu and so on and on and on), but van Hove stages such art-film classics as the Cassavetes scripts Faces and Opening Night, Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers, and Bergman's Cries and Whispers. New York Times 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:38PM

The Real Problem Between The Arts And Audiences, Revealed "But the underlying problem is one common to all the arts: fear. The arts are rank with it. Fear of being thought ignorant or being revealed as a fraud. Fear of not knowing how to pronounce chiaroscuro, trompe l'oeil or gesamtkunstwerk. Fear because the books we think we should have read bully us mercilessly and the music we think we ought to recognise tortures us on a rack of nagging self-doubt. Galleries and concert hall lobbies are filled with those darting eyes and premature nodding that masks the gentle, creeping terror of those seeking to signify recognition where none in fact exists." The Guardian (UK) 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:35PM

Wagner To Remain Off-Limits At Israeli Opera "Richard Wagner and his works will remain a sensitive topic in Israel for many years, the Israeli Opera's new musical director, conductor David Stern, told reporters yesterday. 'I don't think it's such a great loss to Israeli audiences. I still conduct Wagner in other places around the world, but there are many other things that are worthwhile to conduct here.'" Haaretz 12/01/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:34PM

Donatello's David, Fresh From Its Laser Bath, Returns To Full Display The 15th-century bronze statue, the most famous depiction of the biblical king after Michelangelo's, is back on its perch at the Bargello Museum in Florence after an 18-month, €200,000 cleaning using lasers. ("We could only intervene now with the newest laser techniques; even the most delicate mechanical procedure would have hurt it.") The Daily Telegraph (UK) 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:33PM

Soon They'll Be Doing A Pas De Deux For Mobutu And Idi Amin "A controversial ballet is to chart the rise and fall of African dictator Robert Mugabe through cutting-edge dance on the British stage. My Friend Robert, by award-winning choreographer Bawren Tavaziva, draws upon his personal experiences and memories of growing up in the then newly independent Zimbabwe." The Guardian (UK) 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:31PM

The New Broom Sweeps Clean In Sydney "Rafael Bonachela, the new artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company, has taken a knife to the company, shedding seven dancers [out of 17] and seeking to put two more on contracts lasting less than a year. The SDC also sacked four administrative staff and wants to move four full-time members of its production team onto casual contracts in response to the economic downturn… The changes cap off a horrendous period in the company's history. In the past two years, the SDC has endured financial troubles, plummeting morale and the tragic death of Tanja Liedtke, its artistic director-designate." Sydney Morning Herald 11/28/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:29PM

Rubik's Cube Becomes Online Video Meme Aging Gen-Xers may see the Cube as a blast from the 1980s past, but videos of various people solving the puzzle - from director Michel Gondrey appearing to work the Cube with his toes to YouTube's "3-Year-Old Solves Rubik's Cube in 114 Seconds" to a guy that does it while blindfolded - are popping up all over the Web. The short vidcasts are "part of a larger genre of popular online video: the 'solving spectacle,' which typically shows a soloist in a modestly appointed room trying to work out a problem - an intricate guitar solo, a speed painting - that is largely in his head." New York Times Magazine 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:28PM

Barenboim Triumphs In Long-Awaited Met Debut "[I]t was no surprise that he received a prolonged ovation when he first appeared in the pit at the Metropolitan Opera on Friday night to conduct Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in his long-overdue debut with the company. The ovation was greater and richly deserved five hours later, when Mr. Barenboim took his solo bow onstage. Though his performance of this challenging masterpiece was rhapsodic and impassioned, it was also keenly sensitive to the score's harmonic shifts and architectonic structure. The Met orchestra played splendidly for him, and somehow he altered its sheen and color, making it sound duskier and warmer." New York Times 12/01/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:27PM

Remembering Alvin Ailey On the 50th anniversary of the founding of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, eight luminaries (including Judith Jamison, Garth Fagan and Wynton Marsalis) offer reminiscences of the path-breaking African-American choreographer. New York Times 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:25PM

Rediscovering A Lost School Of Epic Indian Painting An exhibition shared between the Sackler Gallery in Washington and the Seattle Art Museum "reveals for the first time a virtually unknown school of monumental Hindu painting on paper that thrived from the 1720s to the mid-19th century. Not even specialized scholars had set eyes on the 60 works from the Marwar area, now part of the state of Rajasthan, that are preserved in the Mehrangarh Museum in the Fort of Jodhpur. The loan of important unpublished works of art by an Indian institution to a Western museum is a first in international museum relations." International Herald Tribune 11/29/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:24PM

Scottish Ballet Getting A Home Of Their Own After years of rehearsing in a rundown old army drill hall, Scottish Ballet is getting ready to move into a purpose-built £11m headquarters in Glasgow. "[E]veryone I ask about the move says what they're looking forward to most is not the huge, hi-tech studios, the education suite, or health and fitness centre, but being in a building that doesn't leak." Scotland on Sunday 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:23PM

Durham, NC Opens New Performing Arts Center "The 2,800-seat, $44-million DPAC is expected to add from $7 million to $11 million annually to Durham's economy. Its Broadway touring shows and top-tier entertainers are expected to attract ticket-buyers from a 100-mile radius that includes not just our Triangle neighbors in Raleigh, Cary and Chapel Hill, but much of the North Carolina's bustling Piedmont." The Herald Sun (Durham, NC) 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:22PM

Ozawa's Return To Boston Some observers were mightily relieved when Seiji Ozawa finally stepped down from the Boston Symphony's music directorship in 2002. But he got a mightily warm welcome from the audience when he returned to Symphony Hall this week. And that was just when he came onstage. Boston Globe 11/29/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:20PM

Clarinetist Mitchell Lurie, 86 The man whom Pablo Casals called "the ideal clarinetist," Mitchell Lurie, died in Los Angeles at age 86. He was principal clarinet with the Pittsburgh and Chicago Symphony Orchestras in his 20s, then moved to California and became a much-sought-after soloist, chamber player and film musician. He also developed reeds, mouthpieces and ligatures that are now used worldwide. Los Angeles Times 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:19PM

Sole Portrait Of Lucrezia Borgia Identified "A painting owned by the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne has been identified as a portrait of Lucrezia Borgia, an infamous figure of the Italian Renaissance. The oil painting, purchased in 1965, was formerly called Portrait of a Young Man and was thought to be by a Northern Italian painter. On Tuesday, however, the gallery announced it had discovered the painting was by famed Renaissance artist Dosso Dossi who lived 1486-1542." CBC 11/25/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:15PM

What The Heck Is "Bel Canto," Anyway? "Quite a bit about the concept of bel canto has long been open to interpretation, including the meaning of this loose term itself, which literally translates as beautiful singing... Opera buffs today use the term bel canto all the time. Yet we each seem to bring a different set of assumptions to the concept." The New York Times 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@10:51AM

Thinking Big What are the big ideas that will carry the arts into the future? What impact has the internet had on live performance, and how will audiences used to interacting with every type of entertainment evolve with performers used to passive crowds? A UK newspaper asks a collection of prominent artists and performers the big questions... The Times (UK) 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@10:45AM

The Turner Prize? Never Heard Of It. "Despite a shortlist featuring a film about broken crockery, a mannequin sitting on a lavatory, a photo collage and an installation featuring, among other things, Felix the Cat, this year's [Turner Prize,] the winner of which will be announced tomorrow, has raised barely a murmur... The standard of work showcased is so bad that some claim the future of the Turner Prize itself, regarded as one of the world's most prestigious contemporary art awards, is in question." The Independent (UK) 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@10:40AM

Is Shakespeare Falling Out Of Favor In Schools? The scrapping of a standardized test on Shakespeare in UK schools was meant to give teachers the freedom to approach the Bard's plays more creatively. "However, one of the unintended consequences of the announcement seems to be that Shakespeare is falling off the curriculum by default." The Guardian (UK) 11/28/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@10:37AM

Marsé Wins Spain's Biggest Literary Prize "The Cervantes prize, the Spanish-language equivalent of the Nobel prize for literature, has been awarded to Catalan novelist Juan Marsé for a body of work focusing on the hardships of life in post-civil war Spain." The award comes with a €125,000 ($158,500) cash prize. The Guardian (UK) 11/28/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@10:34AM

Why Doesn't The BSO Trust Its Audience? Much has been made of Gennady Rozhdestvensky's refusal to conduct the Boston Symphony last week after discovering that his name was in small print on a poster. But Jeremy Eichler says that the BSO has "a deeper problem of... condescending to a potential audience. If the BSO had the artistic vision to bring Rozhdestvensky to its stage, it should have had the marketing courage to stand behind its reasons for doing so." Boston Globe 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@10:19AM

Giving The Music A Verbal Assist Classical music organizations are frequently happy to let the music speak for itself, providing little or no contextual information for audiences. Andrew Adler says that approach is a mistake. "Consider how much more could have been accomplished... All it takes is a little planning and, yes, imagination." Lousiville Courier Journal 11/30/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@10:13AM

Indy Symphony Needs More Money In The Bank "The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra pulled off an impressive financial performance in its latest fiscal year, overcoming economic uncertainty to increase ticket sales and donations. But the orchestra's small operating loss--$293,000 on $26.8 million in revenue--belies a much larger challenge: Symphony officials acknowledge their endowment is nowhere near large enough to support the city's largest performing arts organization in the long term." Indianapolis Business Journal 11/29/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:40AM

Pasadena Looks To A Turnaround Expert "As the Orchestras of Pasadena face up to a financial crisis that threatens their survival, all hopes are pinned on a 41-year-old whiz kid from Modesto. Paul Jan Zdunek, who is credited with putting the troubled Modesto Symphony back on a sound financial footing during his five-year stint, has been hired to do the same in Pasadena." Pasadena Star News (CA) 11/29/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:39AM

La Scala Faces Yet Another Strike Threat "La Scala's opening night of the season, the Milanese social event that brims with VIPs, fur coats and diamonds, may be canceled for the first time in four decades as musicians protest labor contracts. The premiere is a key source of funding for Italy's most famous theater." Bloomberg 11/29/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:37AM

Sydney Opera House Architect Dies At 90 "Danish architect Joern Utzon who designed the Sydney Opera House has reportedly died... Mr Utzon drew up the design for the opera house in 1957 but quit seven years before it was finished after scandals about cost blowouts and design arguments... He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for the sculptural building that the jury singled out as among the most iconic buildings of the 20th century." The Daily Telegraph (Australia) 11/29/08

email this story | Posted 11/30/08@09:35AM

Hexapod Dance Competition - Hagenberg/Austria

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The Real Problem Between The Arts And Audiences, Revealed - The Guardian (UK) 11/30/08
Thinking Big - The Times (UK) 11/30/08

Why Billy Elliot Matters For Dance - The New York Times 11/30/08
Soon They'll Be Doing A Pas De Deux For Mobutu And Idi Amin - The Guardian (UK) 11/30/08
The New Broom Sweeps Clean In Sydney - Sydney Morning Herald 11/28/08
Scottish Ballet Getting A Home Of Their Own - Scotland on Sunday 11/30/08

Cinderella And Psychosis - The Guardian (UK) 11/29/08
Philadelphia's New "Arts Czar" Faces Challenges - Philadelphia Inquirer 11/30/08
Durham, NC Opens New Performing Arts Center - The Herald Sun (Durham, NC) 11/30/08
A French Art Oasis In The Midst of Saudi Arabia - Washington Post (AP) 11/29/08

Right Now - Bad News Sells - Washington Post 11/30/08
Rubik's Cube Becomes Online Video Meme - New York Times Magazine 11/30/08
Bollywood Reacts To Mumbai Tragedy - Washington Post (Bloomberg) 11/29/08
The Obama Effect: Hollywod Edition - The New York Times 11/29/08

Wagner To Remain Off-Limits At Israeli Opera - Haaretz 12/01/08
Barenboim Triumphs In Long-Awaited Met Debut - New York Times 12/01/08
Ozawa's Return To Boston - Boston Globe 11/29/08
What The Heck Is "Bel Canto," Anyway? - The New York Times 11/30/08
Why Doesn't The BSO Trust Its Audience? - Boston Globe 11/30/08
Giving The Music A Verbal Assist - Lousiville Courier Journal 11/30/08
Indy Symphony Needs More Money In The Bank - Indianapolis Business Journal 11/29/08
Pasadena Looks To A Turnaround Expert - Pasadena Star News (CA) 11/29/08
La Scala Faces Yet Another Strike Threat - Bloomberg 11/29/08
Giving New Life To Music Choked Off By Hate - Toronto Star 11/29/08
But You Don't Really Care For Music, Do Ya? - The Guardian (UK) 11/29/08
Getting Noticed - Star Tribune (Minneapolis/St. Paul) 11/29/08

Remembering Alvin Ailey - New York Times 11/30/08
Clarinetist Mitchell Lurie, 86 - Los Angeles Times 11/30/08
Sydney Opera House Architect Dies At 90 - The Daily Telegraph (Australia) 11/29/08
Will Utzon's Dream For Sydney Ever Be Realized? - Brisbane Times (Australia) 12/01/08
William Gibson, 94 - The New York Times 11/29/08
A French Cultural Legend Reaches The Century Mark - The New York Times 11/29/08

Marsé Wins Spain's Biggest Literary Prize - The Guardian (UK) 11/28/08
Why We Need Libraries - The Christian Science Monitor 11/29/08
Teen Lit, Without The Whole "Teen" Thing - Washington Post 11/29/08

A Rich Prize For Theatre, A Rich Conflict Of Interest? - The Globe & Mail (Canada) 12/01/08
Wait, Isn't That Backwards? Ivo Van Hove's Line In Screen-To-Stage Adaptations - New York Times 11/30/08
Is Shakespeare Falling Out Of Favor In Schools? - The Guardian (UK) 11/28/08

Frank Gehry - Not Looking Much Like Himself These Days - Washington Post 11/30/08
Donatello's David, Fresh From Its Laser Bath, Returns To Full Display - The Daily Telegraph (UK) 11/30/08
Rediscovering A Lost School Of Epic Indian Painting - International Herald Tribune 11/29/08
Sole Portrait Of Lucrezia Borgia Identified - CBC 11/25/08
The Turner Prize? Never Heard Of It. - The Independent (UK) 11/30/08
Don't Want To Preserve It? Knock It Down Faster. - The New York Times 11/29/08

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