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IN Music News THIS WEEK: December 4, 2001
New Beginning at 70
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By Janos Gereben
New Beginning at 70
The famed violinist Joseph Silverstein has taken a new position at age 70. He has replaced James Judd as head of the Florida Philharmonic when the English conductor resigned last week, after 12 years there. Silverstein has the title of acting music director, but he signed up for a two-year period, which makes the position more like a "permanent acting" director. He will start conducting the orchestra in his new capacity beginning next month. The Florida Philharmonic, resident orchestra in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, gives 185 performances annually.
Silverstein served as concertmaster of the Boston Symphony for 22 years, he also founded and led the Boston Chamber Players. In addition to his new position, Silverstein is principal guest conductor of Seattle's Northwest Chamber Orchestra and remains active as conductor laureate of the Utah Symphony, where he served as music director for 15 years. He is also artistic advisor to 10 orchestras in the US and Canada.
Past Catching Up at 75 The National Public Radio news story about an arrest and three-hour detention by Swiss police of Pierre Boulez, 75, reported here, was slightly askew, according to clarifying reports on Tuesday in Actualités of "Yahoo! France" and the Basler Zeitung. On November 2, having conducted the opening concert of the European Music Month the night before, Boulez was awakened in his hotel in Basle, Switzerland at 6:30 a.m., and the police confiscated his passport . He was able to reclaim it two hours later, in time to catch his flight for Chicago. Boulez was on the police register of wanted persons because of a six year-old complaint by a journalist who had written a critical review of a Boulez concert, alleging that he had received a threatening phone call that made allusions to a bomb. Some 40 years ago, Boulez had made one of his sensationally exaggerated remarks, typical of his younger days, to the effect that all opera houses should be blown up. While this was cited in the NPR story, the reason for the police action was the police's routine discovery on the hotel register of someone listed there who was on its wanted list in connection with the possibly false bomb threat. Boulez was reported as having taken a light-hearted view of the incident and the authorities in Basle and director of its police sent him a letter of apology.
What If You Give a Symposium and Nobody Came? That, apparently, is what happened on Sunday when Michael Tilson Thomas was scheduled to head a symposium in Herbst Theater about the SF Symphony's upcoming Italian Mavericks concerts. The event was cancelled Saturday night when it became clear that tickets were not selling. Given the event's placement on a Sunday evening, in the middle of a heavy storm, poor attendance should not be regarded as a reflection on MTT favorite Giacinto Scelsi.
Washington Post Shuffle On his Internet chat show on Monday, Washington Post classical-music critic Philip Kennicott announced that he and Tim Page are switching jobs, Page taking over as the principal critic, Kennicott to act as the paper's "culture critic." To explain that position, Kennicott said the purpose is to take "a broader view, report on issues that impact the arts in general, and from time to time, `review' things that we might not ordinarily cover, whether it's exhibitions that fall between the definition of the arts, or performance art, or coffee table books."
Mellon Grant to NYC Arts The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has made $50 million available to support arts organizations in New York City at a time of the economic downturn and the aftermath of September 11, when the city is facing a $4 billion deficit. The foundation is taking grant requests already, anticipating that by the end of this month, awards will total as much as $2 million. Museums, performing arts and cultural groups have been invited to submit proposals describing the impact on them, and how they would use transition funds. "While $50 million is a considerable sum, it does not begin to address the full range of the needs, and their urgency, that now confront cultural institutions," Mellon Foundation president William Bowen said in announcing the program. He is administering the grants, along with Hanna Gray, chair of the Foundation's board of trustees and president emeritus of the University of Chicago, and W. Taylor Reveley III, dean of the William and Mary School of Law.
U2 Can Cross Over Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock band U2, explained in a Rolling Stone interview why Bali became his favorite vacation place, concluding his remarks with an unexpected (and puzzling) musical reference: "The place is filled with temples; it just smells different from anywhere else in the world. There's a tropical scent that's rich and beautiful...They give thanks for everything, and they bow to each other, and they wear beautiful saffron sometimes... and the music is, I guess, the antecedent of trance and rave culture. It's very sophisticated. It's like Philip Glass meets Benjamin Britten or Karlheinz Stockhausen." I hope somebody will tell Lou Harrison about this. U2 just concluded its US tour in Miami on Sunday, having played for more than 2 million fans in North America and Europe this year in 109 shows, its annual take likely to be well over $100 million... good for several new opera productions: see next item.
The Cost of Opera The Guardian has surveyed the state of opera in the UK from a financial point of view, and found this "task of byzantine complexity" requiring "vast sums of money." English National Opera's annual budget is $37.4 million, the Royal Opera's is $72.8 million, even the smallish Welsh National Opera requires $20 million a year. The Arts Council of England doled out $54.5 million to opera in the last season. The survey shows only about 6% of the British population attending opera (that's twice the latest US figure), against almost 20% of those attending theater. Elaine Padmore, head of opera at Covent Garden, commented on the situation by saying that the cost of stars (which, in turn, attract more people to opera) is high and getting higher. While not providing specific figures, the newspaper estimated that popular artists such as Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Bryn Terfel or Colin Davis — each requiring contracts up to five years in advance — command fees between $17,000 and $21,000 per performance. Padmore did let something out of the bag: in fighting agents who are trying to pitch house against house, she said, "the big opera houses club together and meet once a year to discuss any exorbitant demands. And they all agree that they will not accede to the requests of so-and-so's agent. There is an active agreement, and everyone sticks to it. This is the only way international houses can put a cap on fees." It's a good thing that big opera companies are not subject to antitrust rules. Padmore said there is a price cap now in effect, limiting the cost of a new production to under $427,000. The average cost of new productions is around $250,000 at Covent Garden and at the ENO ("the people's opera") a surprisingly close $213,000. (Janos Gereben is arts editor of the Post Newspaper Group and technology editor for www.the451.com. You can contact him at janos451@earthlink.net.) ©2001 Janos Gereben, all rights reserved |