Buzz
Can you guess who it is yet?Tuesday, 09 November 2010
RCA Secret at the Royal College of Art from 12 to 19 November Read more... |
Curiouser and curiouser: snubbed Scottish Ballet chief bites backTuesday, 09 November 2010
Scottish Ballet’s artistic director Ashley Page yesterday angrily made clear that when he leaves the company in 2012 it will be against his wishes. Last Thursday the company issued an emotionless brief statement that Page had “felt he was unable... Read more... |
Another great voice leaves us: Shirley Verrett (1931-2010)Monday, 08 November 2010The great American mezzo has died aged 79. As with every loss this year, it's been an opportunity to rediscover a legacy on CDs and on YouTube. The Verdi tigresses were Verrett's core stamping ground, and I've already posted on my blog a film of her... Read more... |
Farewell, Rudolf Barshai (1924-2010)Saturday, 06 November 2010
"Who?" many readers may be asking. You'll have to take it on trust - and a handful of outstanding recordings - that the Russian conductor, viola player and arranger, who died on 2 November aged 86, really was up there among the musical greats of his... Read more... |
What price musical learning?Thursday, 04 November 2010
Last year I took my musical instrument to Tower Hamlets. The heartland of the capital’s huge Bangladeshi community is not a part of London where you expect to hear much orchestral playing. Nor are boroughs like Hackney and Newham ordinarily seen... Read more... |
Dick Flash: an interview masterclass with Brian EnoWednesday, 03 November 2010Dick Flash shows us wannabe interviewers how it's done with this masterful and enlightening exchange with pop's favourite brainbox Brian Eno, who seems to have a new album out, also. Watch Dick Flash's interview with Brian Eno: Read more... |
Doonesbury: The 40th AnniversaryTuesday, 02 November 2010
It feels a little like AA: "My name is Judith Flanders, and I am a Doonesbury addict." This month marks the 40th anniversary of Garry Trudeau’s strip – part political satire, part Baby-Boomer comfort zone, all comic, all fine graphic design. And... Read more... |
Stephen K Amos's new TV showSaturday, 30 October 2010
Stephen K Amos, who was born in London to immigrant Nigerian parents, always used to joke that he would get a television series only when Lenny Henry died, because commissioning editors were working on a “one out, one in” basis where black comics... Read more... |
Time to party like it's 1926Wednesday, 27 October 2010
In 1920s London, those who could afford to indulged in a craze for wild parties - pyjama parties, sailor parties, pool parties - the wilder the better, with American jazzers such as the Blackbirds Revue providing the stomping music. Resplendent... Read more... |
Who earns £630,000 at the Royal Opera House?Tuesday, 26 October 2010As arts cuts announced today start to bite, few people are aware that the Royal Opera House pays its two top people more than £630,000 and nearly £400,000 each. Although Covent Garden is refusing to identify them, it is likely that they are chief... Read more... |
At Sadler's Wells bad times mean nudity and horses on stageTuesday, 26 October 2010Sadler’s Wells launched their 2011 season this morning with a warning that the front-loading of arts cuts to the next two years will cut a swathe through the British arts landscape.Alastair Spalding said that while this year’s cut of 7 per cent was... Read more... |
Subject: Re: Arts Cuts (Reply All)Friday, 22 October 2010
It began with a review of 100 Years of German Song. Roused by a comment to a reader (see Igor's comment below), Fisun was moved to email Igor in support of his trenchant views on arts funding. It wasn't long before other writers at theartsdesk got... Read more... |
