Archives for the 'Cultural Affairs' Category
Meet the Dutch in Chicago
You might have already seen the tulips, artsy bike installations and windmills on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile these past weeks. If you were wondering, yes, that’s the doing of us Dutch people, in partnership with the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association.
Last Monday I went to the Dutch Consulate’s celebration of Koninginnedag or Queen’s Day at the [...]
The pen is mightier than the sword
Spanish-born Canadian author Yann Martel has a very unique way of bringing attention to the wish for more long-term and stable funding of Canadian arts. Publicity wise, this unique grassroots, guerrilla public relations effort is paying off. Let’s hope it gets the arts the funding it deserves.
Martel directly appeals to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper [...]
Learning about Rostropovich
The news of Mstislav Rostropovich’s passing spread around quickly this morning. At this moment I am listening to the final bars of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with Rostropovich and the London Philharmonic, via YouTube (via Marc Geelhoed). Remarkably, it is the first music I have heard him perform.
I have only really been in the classical music [...]
Finally a post: some catching up
I have been swamped lately, and thus left little time for blogging. This post will be brief, even though there is much to write. The last two weeks the news went from lighthearted articles such as the Washington Post’s story about Joshua Bell performing in a subway station and earning little more than pocket change, [...]
Classic tale of how not to approach blogger relations, and other news
This morning I read in a Dutch paper that the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam received a subsidy of 2 million Euros from the province of North-Holland. Just to renovate the hallways, bathrooms and coat room. How wonderful to see that in some countries, arts organizations do get the support they need from the government.
In other news, [...]
Translating Dutch poetry
A while ago, someone at work approached me because his friend would love to go over some poetry translations with a native Dutch speaker. This friend, Stephen Frech, is working on translations of poems by Menno Wigman. Last night I had the second multi-hour session of delving deep into the poetry.
Although I speak both English [...]
A debut of some sort
Last night I made a debut of some sort. I was a guest lecturer at my former teacher’s class at Columbia College. I met Dominic Calabrese through an independent project in college and he later invited me to do an internship at his organization, the Chicago Lighthouse. He teaches a non-profit public relations class at [...]
The more obvious story, and therefore the easier sell
Musical America has a great article about how successful the Metropolitan Opera’s season has been with new general manager Peter Gelb exploring 1,001 media opportunities. For example:
“He also reported that Saturday’s simulcast of “Eugene Onegin,” into 239 movie theaters around the world, had reached an audience of over 50,000 and climbed to No. 8 on [...]
The Miraculous Download
It’s time for another moment of showing pride in the organization I work for. And once again, it is about Beyond the Score. I can’t help but getting back to this wonderful initiative and this time you can find out for yourself whether you should take me seriously or not.
Starting today, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra [...]
Why are there no famous Dutch composers?
Today’s news of Jaap van Zweden’s appointment to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as the next music director made me remember a thought I had the other day.
Last Monday I heard a piece by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen at the CSO’s MusicNOW concert. Andriessen is arguably the Netherlands’ best known contemporary composer, but other than Andriessen [...]
