July 13, 2012  |
| | | Thought of the Day | | Most people have never learned that one of the main aims in life is to enjoy it.
--Samuel Butler
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| Quote of the Week | | Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. --Benjamin Disraeli
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| | Kimmel Center Gets $2.5 Million | | 
The William Penn Foundation has given the Kimmel Center a $2.5 million grant for fiscal 2012 and 2013, to be used mostly for general operating support. The Center recently laid off ten percent of its administrative employees. In acknowledging the gift, Kimmel Center President and CEO Anne Ewers said it had come "at a pivotal time," outlining some of the past year's challenges: increased operating costs due largely to union issues; decreased funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and rent concessions to resident companies, including the Philadelphia Orchestra. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
ABT's Rock Star Makes His Final Exit | | NEW YORK -- To some dance fans, Ethan Stiefel, the blond, athletic, longtime principal dancer at American Ballet Theater, has fit the rock-star bill nicely over his long career. A natural for the classics, with a beautiful and pure line, he was able to play a perfect Siegfried in Swan Lake and then leap effortlessly into some edgier Twyla Tharp. There were genuine screams from high up in the rafters on closing night of ABT's spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House. Stiefel, now 39, was saying farewell to ABT with a final performance as Ali the Slave in the campy Le Corsaire. Bare-chested, with muscles rippling, he performed Ali's brief but famously entertaining leaps and turns to virtuosic perfection, nailing the scissor kicks, the revolving jumps, and the flashy spins, one last time. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
| | | The Homeless Take Over Covent Garden | | LONDON -- Professional singers wait a lifetime to perform at the world's top venues, but members of the homeless community received their moment in the spotlight at the Royal Opera House on July 2.
The sold-out performance of With One Voice featured 300 members of the homeless community from all around the world, and marked the first time homeless people were part of an Olympic Games. Streetwise Opera, a charity that combines the two seemingly different worlds, was formed by opera critic Matthew Peacock, who first volunteered at a shelter after former Conservative cabinet minister Sir George Young famously said: "The homeless are what you step over when you come out of the opera." |
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In what its principals are touting as an historic first for the U.S., the Dayton Philharmonic, Dayton Ballet, and Dayton Opera have merged to form a new entity, the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance. Each maintains its own artistic director, but the three boards have been dissolved and a new 39-member DPAA board has been formed. The president and CEO is Paul A. Helfrich, former CEO of the Dayton Philharmonic, by far the largest of the three organizations. That the number of staff positions has actually increased from 21 for the combined groups to a total of 22 for the one, says Helfrich, is indicative of the how lean staffing has been in the recent past. The DPAA budget is $7.6 million. Donors can still specify the entity of their choice, and a subscription to any one of the three groups' seasons entitles the holder to a free ticket to the other two. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
Heads Up: IRS Makes a Change in Filing for an ITIN | The IRS just made it more difficult for foreign artists coming to perform in the U.S. All non-residents who work here are required to report income earned (regardless of whether tax is due), filing the proper forms using either a non-resident Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). Time restrictions make obtaining a SSN a nightmare, so many have opted for the ITIN. But effective immediately the requirements for the ITIN have changed. Now, rather than the copy of his or her official ID, such as a passport, being stamped by any notary, said copy for the ITIN filing must be notarized only by the agency that issued it. Thus, a copy of a passport must be notarized by the country's state department, or equivalent thereof. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
| A Double Concerto That Redefines Virtuosity | | ADVERTISEMENT 
David Chesky's Concerto for Violin, Cello & Orchestra "As fresh and vital as this music sounds, one gets the feeling that if Vivaldi somehow heard Chesky's concertos, he might find them the strangest pieces he'd ever heard--but he'd always understand what was going on."
Ken Smith--Gramophone Magazine
Click here to listen |
Eugenia Zukerman's Tanglewood Vlog |  | | Emanuel Ax, Pianist |
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Pianist Emanuel Ax is one of the most honored and beloved artists of our time. Having performed at Tanglewood some thirty times he says, "I first came here with my wife for a couple of days, and every year we came for longer, until about 25 years ago we started spending the whole summer here. I don't know why, but there's magic in the air at Tanglewood." Manny, as he's called, says he likes looking at photographs on the walls backstage at the Shed before going onstage. "You see Lenny Bernstein on the lawn with Lukas Foss, you see conductor Charles Munch - you see a lot of great artists and it's very exciting to be part of it, to be part of a long tradition." |
| Are We Liable for a Backstage Brawl? |  |
| Summertime | 
From Why I Left Muncie by Sedgwick Clark I am relieved to say that the concert "season," such as it used to be, is officially over. Nothing like three mostly concertless months to revivify one's passion for the art. There are a few scattered enticements here and there, as well as three Mostly Mozart concerts on the horizon--a preconcert recital of works by Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky with the amazing 18-year-old pianist Conrad Tao, hearing Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director-designate Yannick Nézet-Séguin for the first time in concert, Louis Langrée leading works by Lutosławski, Bartók, and, of all composers, Mozart. But that's it so far. I hope to catch up on some recent CDs and will report accordingly. Read the full story
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| Latest Roster Changes | |  Musical America is helping presenters keep up with its advertisers! Managers whose rosters appear in the 2012 edition of the Musical America Directory should write to listings@musicalamerica.com with the names of artists and attractions that have been either added or removed, and please be sure to indicate "added" or "removed."
NEW THIS WEEK Jiang, Tian, piano, added, Parker Artists
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