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volcanohunter

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Posts posted by volcanohunter

  1. Unfortunately, I don't live "north of the border" or in Europe, or Japan, or any other culturally enlighhtened country that supports its arts and public television stations.

    OT: Generally speaking, Canada is not culturally enlightened. There happen to be two provincial educational channels, British Columbia's and the Franco-Ontario one, which have a weekly slot, dedicated to classical music, and where ballet gets an airing from time to time. (The Anglo-Ontario network pays no attention to the arts, but it does a fair job with everything else.) Today they are what PBS used to be, and certainly BC's Knowledge Network actively seeks the financial support of its viewers. But neither network can afford to produce its own arts content apart from a few shorts.

    However, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is a proof that a massive government subsidy guarantees nothing. What the CBC spends its money on these days is Coronation Street imports, several painful sitcoms, Hockey Night in Canada, a late-night chat show hosted by a former VJ and absolutely no arts programming. This, evidently, is what the public wants. It pains me to see PBS gradually going down the same route, because in the CBC's case it's been a road of no return.

  2. However, I'm not sure that I would miss PBS if it went away, there is so very little classical dance programming on it. One truly original, classical ballet every 2 or 3 years? The last live ballet was the NYCB 'Romeo & Juliet' and that got mixed reviews on this board. Instead, we get lots of Celtic Sister (or Celtic Whatever) and 1960s folk reunions and Antique Roadshows.

    That's my feeling, too. Is PBS worth saving?

    I just searched for 'Great Performances' on the schedule of my PBS station and what it yielded, in addition to a couple of (not new) classical music programs, was Rod Stewart, Michael Bublé, Paul McCartney, James Taylor, David Foster, The Police and Harry Connick Jr. (Only two Americans in that group, I notice.) I thought VH1 was invented for the likes of these. Each year PBS gives me 2 hours (perhaps 4 with repeats) of dance out of 8,760, and now they'd like me to go to bat for them?

    I just looked over my notes about classical concerts, operas and ballets I intended to watch on TV in January and February. There were 23 programs in total, three of which aired on PBS. (For the other 20 I'm duly grateful to British, French, German, Swiss, Italian and Polish taxpayers.) So what has Great Performances done for me lately? Not a whole lot, unfortunately.

    Of course, without PBS American dance companies would most probably be left without any sort television venue, but how would that be any different from the situation in which 99% of them find themselves today? I know that there have been noises from PBS about raising the profile of performing arts and even dedicating one evening a week to them, but you'll pardon me for being skeptical. I've been jilted for too long.

    By way of disclaimer, I am an American living north of the border, so I don't have access to secondary or tertiary PBS stations, nor any related radio stations, just the main network, which I hardly ever watch and probably wouldn't miss.

  3. CBC will air the program again on Wednesday, February 16, at 1:00 p.m. local time.

    I have to admit I'm ambivalent about the film. It was made toward the end of Hart's performing career, and by then her body was such a wreck, and her psyche comes across as so fragile and obsessive, that the program could persuade parents that sending their daughters to ballet class may be a very bad idea, never mind Black Swan.

  4. A Paris Opera Ballet performance of Nicolas Le Riche's Caligula will be beamed live to cinemas on Tuesday, February 8, at 19.30 Paris time, or 1:30 p.m. ET. Participating locations in the U.S. can be found on the Ballet in Cinema site by typing in your ZIP code.

    http://www.balletinc...ra-ballet-live/

    encore screenings: http://www.balletinc...-ballet-encore/

    scheduled cast:

    CALIGULA - Jérémie Belingard

    THE MOON - Clairemarie Osta

    MNESTER - Stéphane Bullion

    CHAEREA - Aurelien Houette

    INCITATUS - Mathias Heymann

    CAESONIA - Eleonora Abbagnato

    http://www.operadepa...ON=SELECT_EVENT

    If, like me, you don't live close to a participating cinema, Medici TV is also planning to stream the performance live. However, if there are any geographical blackouts, the web site isn't listing them yet. To the best of my knowledge, this would be the first dance performance streamed on the site. Finally.

    Watching Medici streams requires logging into an account, but these are free and quick to set up.

    http://www.medici.tv...uture-concerts/

  5. Personally, I would have put Beethoven first, Brahms higher up and ditched Wagner and Bartok for a pair a pre-Baroque composers. I'm partial to Tallis and Lassus, but I certainly wouldn't object to the inclusion of Palestrina, Victoria or Byrd.

    I understand the exclusion of Tchaikovsky. His music is too uneven for him to qualify for the top ten. For every moment of unadulterated genius like the White Swan adagio or Letter Scene, there are demerits like the 1812 Overture, most of the Fourth Symphony, the "Uzhel' teper'" chorus from Eugene Onegin (I always burst out in giggles when it starts) or that absurd number from Swan Lake Ashton used for his pas de quatre coda. The last barely qualifies as music at all. (Skip ahead to 5:42

    .) I happily concede that Tchaikovsky is the greatest ever composer for winds.
  6. Opus Arte will be releasing a disc of the Royal Ballet performing three ballets by Wayne McGregor. The UK release date is March1, 2011, so the American release will probably follow a couple of months later.

    Chroma

    Federico Bonelli, Ricardo Cervera, Tamara Rojo, Mara GaleazzI, Sarah Lamb, Steven Mcrae, Laura Morera, Ludovic Ondiviela, Eric Underwood, Jonathan Watkins, Edward Watson

    filmed June 2010

    Infra

    Leanne Benjamin, Ricardo Cervera, Yuhui Choe, Lauren Cuthbertson, Mara Galeazzi, Melissa Hamilton, Ryoichi Hirano, Paul Kay, Marianela Nuñez, Eric Underwood, Jonathan Watkins, Edward Watson

    filmed November 2008

    Limen

    Leanne Benjamin, Yuhui Choe, Mara Galeazzi,Melissa Hamilton, Sarah Lamb, Marianela Nuñez, Leticia Stock, Akane Takada, Tristan Dyer, Paul Kay, Brian Maloney, Steven Mcrae, Ludovic Ondiviela, Eric Underwood, Edward Watson

    filmed November 2009

    DVD: http://www.opusarte....ee-ballets.html

    Blu-ray: http://www.opusarte....ts-blu-ray.html

  7. This DVD should hit the North American market in March. I'm still undecided about buying it. I saw this performance at the movies and had reservations about it and the way it was filmed. http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/29406-royal-ballet-la-bayadere-in-canadian-cinemas-may-2/

    If I were to buy it, it would be because of Nuñez. Otherwise the performance didn't really grab me.

  8. The Royal Ballet will be beaming Giselle live to cinemas on Wednesday, January 19. The performance is scheduled to star Marianela Nuñez and Rupert Pennefather.

    http://cinema.opusar...content/giselle

    Screenings in the United States can also be found by visiting the Ballet in Cinema web site.

    http://emergingpictu...llet-in-cinema/

    In New York City, for example, the ballet will be beamed live to Big Cinemas Manhattan at 2:00 p.m. http://us.bigcinemas...tSessionId=3178

    In the meantime, Symphony Space is opting for a "delayed live" transmission at 7:00 p.m. http://www.symphonys...e-ballet-london

  9. A recent performance from the Opera Bastille of Giorgio Strehler's classic production of Le nozze di Figaro can be viewed on demand at the Paris Opera web site. It will be available until December 31.

    Figaro: Luca Pisaroni

    Susanna: Ekaterina Siurina

    Countess: Barbara Frittoli

    Count: Ludovic Tézier

    Cherubino: Karine Deshayes

    Bartolo: Robert Lloyd

    Marcellina: Ann Murray

    Don Basilio: Robin Leggate

    Barbarina: Maria Virginia Savastano

    Antonio: Christian Tréguier

    Don Curzio: Antoine Normand

    Conductor: Philippe Jordan

    http://www.operadepa...Noces_de_Figaro

    Give the pop-up window a minute to appear.

  10. The Canadian movie chains Cineplex, Ciné Enterprise (in Quebec) and Empire Theatres (in Atlantic Canada) will carry four performances by the Bolshoi Ballet beamed live from Moscow.

    Sunday, December 19: The Nutcracker

    Sunday, January 23: Class Concert & Giselle

    Sunday, March 6: Don Quixote

    Sunday, May 29: Coppelia

    Near as I can tell, the performances will be shown live in Atlantic and eastern Canada at 11:00 a.m. ET/12:00 p.m. AT (12:30 in Newfoundland) and with a time delay further west.

    I only wish with POB series were included as well. Thus far ballet performances at Canadian multiplexes haven't really caught on, but hopefully the Bolshoi will have better luck.

    http://www.cineplex....allet/Home.aspx

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