National Council on the Arts Adds New Members
The National Endowment for the Arts recently announced that the U.S. Senate has confirmed President Bush’s appointment of three new members of the National Council on the Arts. The newly appointed members are Seattle Symphony Music Director Gerard Schwarz, Phoenix Art Museum Director James K. Ballinger, and Terry Teachout, drama critic for the Wall Street Journal. Each man is expected to serve for a term of six years. The council is the NEA’s key decision-making body. www.playbillarts.com/article820.html
Opera Company Gives Away Free Tickets
Butterflies, as the 1972 movie said, are indeed free—or at least they were when Florida Grand Opera recently gave out 2,000 free tickets to a performance of Madama Butterfly at the Miami-Dade Auditorium, in an effort to introduce more people to the opera company’s performances. When interviewed, most of the neophytes said they were happy they had come. Some had no idea there would be English supertitles to help them follow the plot, while others were surprised that the singers used no microphones. Everyone interviewed was impressed with the emotional impact of the music.
The audience seemed rather reserved after Act I, said a Miami Herald story, but by the end of the opera, there were shouts of “bravo,” and many of the women were drying their eyes.
www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/10210718.htm
NYCO Gets a New Executive Producer
New York City Opera recently promoted its former director of development, Jane M. Gullong, to executive producer. Gullong replaces Sherwin M. Goldman, who NYCO has asked to work on finding a new theater for the company. Some insiders think the change is the result of a personality clash between Goldman and Board Chair Susan L. Baker, but Artistic Director Paul Kellogg said that finding a new home for the company has become so important that he asked Goldman to devote all of his time to it.
www.nytimes.com/2004/11/24/arts/24arts.html?oref=login&oref=login
The Birth of Tradition
The tale is told that once, while Giacomo Puccini was watching a rehearsal of Tosca, the Scarpia wrestled too hard with star soprano Maria Jeritza, and she fell on her face. It was almost time for her aria, and she had hurt her nose. After the introduction was repeated a few times, however, she began to sing “Vissi d’arte” from her position on the floor.
Puccini loved it and said that is how the aria should be sung. Later, he was heard to remark that Jeritza’s fall had supplied him with one of his best dramatic inspirations.
www.singerslegacy.com/mariajeritza.html
Hanthorn Takes the Helm In Atlanta
Dennis Hanthorn prides himself on being able to bring promising but underdeveloped opera companies out of their lethargy. His latest prospect is in Atlanta, a city that definitely has the money and the talent to support a first-class company.
This season, Hanthorn has given up his position with Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera to take on the challenge. As general director of Atlanta Opera he expects to put the company on a par with that city’s symphony within a decade.
www.florentineopera.org/media/press072704.htm
Scientists Says Composers’ Language Affects their Music
A scientist says the speech patterns of composers’ native languages tend to be carried over into their music, reports the UK newspaper The Guardian. Dr. Aniruddh Patel of San Diego’s Neurosciences Institute and his team of scientists analyzed recordings of spoken French and English, noting their rhythms and variations in pitch, then made a similar study of the rhythms and pitches found in familiar compositions by well-known French and English composers.
The scientists found that the rhythm and pitch variations of French music are similar to the patterns of that language—and that English compositions tend to mirror the patterns of English.
“It is as if the music carries an imprint of the composer’s language,” says Dr Patel.
www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1355508,00.html
A New Orchestra for Vermont!
The Champlain Philharmonic Orchestra made its debut last November at Middlebury College Center for the Arts. Conductor David Gusakov led his players in a well-received program featuring Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Mozart.
The formation of a new orchestra is a major achievement for Vermont, and New England reviewers indicate the Champlain Philharmonic Orchestra is off to a good start. CPO’s next concert will be in May.
www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041117/NEWS/411170311/1011
Symphony Musicians to Wait a Year for Pay Raise
Unions and management renegotiated contracts in 2004 for the Chicago and Cleveland symphony orchestras, the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra, says the New York Times. All of the orchestra players involved received increases in pay, but some observers find it significant that most of these musicians have to wait a year to see any extra money. Even more striking: Agreements the members of the Chicago and Philadelphia orchestras signed allow reductions in the number of full-time musicians to be hired in the future.
www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/arts/music/23orch.html
Arts Organizations Need Execs Who Know the Arts
In Mozart’s time it took an entire evening to play The Marriage of Figaro, and it required a large cast. Since then, the time needed to manufacture cloth has been cut to almost nothing and transportation is a hundred times faster, but the opera still takes the same length of time to perform and requires the same number of singers.
Comparisons like this point to the need for people in arts administration who have a good understanding of artistic principles, says writer Donald Bernardo in a special to The Plain Dealer, a Cleveland-area newspaper. Opera and symphony organizations need executives who know music, and know the particular approach to finance those musical enterprises require, says Bernardo.
www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/110086050340891.xml
