Pianos, jerks, even trolls -- why everything has a 'whisperer' now

By Mark Peters | March 8, 2009

IT'S EASY TO misunderstand the title of Thomas Paine's new book, "How to Treat a Woman: The Art and Science of Sex Whispering." What sounds at first like a lexicon of seductive pillow talk is in fact about "whispering" in the horse-whisperer sense, a guide to subtly managing one's partner in the bedroom. If this seems like a curious new approach to intimacy, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise - Paine is just the latest entrant in the increasingly crowded world of whisperers.

If there's a job title of the decade, "whisperer" has to be a contender. More than a decade after "The Horse Whisperer" appeared on movie screens, and four years after the debuts of "The Dog Whisperer" and "The Ghost Whisperer" on TV, "whispering" is still gaining steam among a huge range of consultants and instructors who promise subtle yet authoritative transformation in pretty much every aspect of life.

Besides a seemingly endless roster of self-described animal whisperers - really, a tarantula whisperer? - there's now the MBA Whisperer, an online consultant who helps applicants get into business school; the Relationship Whisperer, an author and dispenser of dating and marriage advice; the Startup Whisperer, who mentors new entrepreneurs; the Jerk Whisperer, a teacher of workplace communication; and the Sales Whisperer, who promises "money, prestige, achievement, and success." The Potty Whisperer and the Plot Whisperer unclog blocked toddlers and writers.

What is it about whispering? The word has long carried the sense of subtlety and secrecy. Its newer meaning dates to the early 19th century. The Oxford English Dictionary defines "whisperer" as "an appellation for certain celebrated horse-breakers, said to have obtained obedience by whispering to the horses." Despite the name, the job was anything but subtle: Horse-breaking requires subduing a bucking horse's spirit sufficiently to allow saddling. Often this was a violent and coercive process; "whisperers" promised something less disruptive.

More from
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/03/08/shhh_im_changing_your_life?mode=PF

Posted on Wed, Mar. 4, 2009


Getting creative to survive
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20090304_Getting_creative_to_survive.html?viewAll=y

People in the arts feel the pinch, too, but they can draw on their talent to stay afloat.

By Melanie Cox McCluskey

For The Inquirer

In today's economy, Kevin Derrick is lucky to have a job as an interior designer. Not leaving anything to chance, Derrick also moonlights as a studio director, creative consultant, and furniture designer.

Sure, he's feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. The marketing, advertising, and retail worlds that employ creatives like him are suffering.

But artists like Derrick also have built-in mechanisms for survival: their own creativity.

"We are moving into the economy of the free agent," says Richard Florida, the author of Who's Your City and director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto. "Whether you have a government grant or you work for a company occasionally, you have to take control of your life."

To weather the layoffs and canceled contracts, diverse income sources make sense.

Find out more from
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20090304_Getting_creative_to_survive.html?viewAll=y

http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/03/conductor_gustavo_dudamel_a_ph.html

"I have now experienced the conducting of Gustavo Dudamel "live" on three occasions. On top of that I've watched two video recordings and listened to at least three or four CDs as well, in some cases multiple times. I have to say that he is a phenomenon quite unlike just about anything or anyone I have experienced in almost fifty years of concert going. If you want a definition of the phrase "podium presence," the best way I can define it is to suggest watching Dudamel conduct.
Why do I write about him? After all, I rarely use this blog to "promote" an artist. One reason is that I already see signs of the all-too-predictable critical backlash that always follows any big success. I'm old enough to remember when Britten's War Requiem was introduced to the world and the initial reviews labeled it as one of the greatest choral works since Verdi's Requiem. While that may have been an overstatement, certainly the Britten work is one of the sublime masterpieces of the twentieth century. But as rave after rave followed its premiere, I remember saying to my wife something like "You watch. Within a few months the backlash will come." And sure enough, it did. Suddenly the War Requiem couldn't buy a good review: It went from being a timeless masterpiece to being an overrated hodgepodge of styles, most of them stolen from other composers (Verdi included). Eventually history made its determination, and the War Requiem seems to have earned a permanent place in the canon."

More
http://www.artsjournal.com/ontherecord/2009/03/conductor_gustavo_dudamel_a_ph.html

※2008年12月31日まで、この記事をトップにします。

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今、National Galleryで英国美術界を巻き込んだ大きなFundraising Campaign（寄附集め）が行われています。

The Titian Campaign


※↑画像をクリックすると、National Galleryの特設サイトに飛びます。


その渦中の作品は、16世紀ヴェネチア学派の巨匠ティツィアーノ(英語ではTitian)作の『Diana and Actaeon』↓


※↑をクリックすると、National Galleryの作品解説サイトに行きます。さらに作品の画像をクリックすると拡大画像が見られます。


このThe Titan Campaignでは、2008年12月31日までに5000万ポンド（日本円で約7.2億円？＠143円）を公的助成＆民間助成で集める必要があります。もし、これが達成されないと過去約200年にわたりNational GalleryとNational Gallery of Scotlandで保有＆公開されてきた傑作が国外に流出してしまう危機にあります。

そもそもの発端は、現在『Diana and Actaeon』の所有者であるDuke of Sutherlandが手放すことにしたことに始まります。今のところ、英国外の個人コレクターに売り渡されることが報じられていますが…。

８月の初めに、Duke自らNational Gallery of Scotlandに大晦日までに5000万ポンド集められれば、市場価格で６倍するところを5000万ポンドで所有権を譲り渡すと伝えました。さらに、『Diana and Actaeon』の対作である『Diana and Callisto』も３年後に同額程度でNational Gallery側に独占的に売り渡すことを示唆しています。

今までに、美術品の英国内でのコレクション充実に大きく貢献をしている財団Art Fundにより約1000万ポンドが寄附されることが決定しています。

が、なかなか思うようには集まらないようで…、おまけにこの歴史的不景気の英国経済。これが昨年であったら、かなり多くの企業が名乗りをあげたはずです。（今や2012年ロンドン五輪にまで懸念がおよぶぐらいですから…。）


そんななか、ついにLucian Freud, Damien Hirst, David Hockneyら英国現代美術家20名が署名をした「申し状」を携え、この危機への措置を訴えるべく、Tracey Eminが首相官邸に赴きました。「もしこの歴史的名作が失われたら、英国政府は恥じるべきだ」と。




私も来週にでも、わずかながらですが寄附をしてきます。Fundraisingの難しさを知っている者として、National Gallery愛用者として、少しでもこのキャンペーンについて、皆さんに知っていただけたらと思い、記事にします。

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【寄附方法】
　※National Gallery特設サイトより抜粋。

Help to keep the paintings on public display in the UK by making a donation now. Every donation large and small will make a real difference.

By cheque

Please download and fill in the form below, send it with your cheque to:

The Development Office
The National Gallery
FREEPOST LON8962
LONDON WC2N 5BR

Download donation form (PDF 58kb)

Leave a donation at the Gallery

Please visit the information desks in the foyers of the National Gallery. Staff can take your cash or cheque donation and give you a receipt.


Online

You can also make a donation online on the Just Giving website.


Contact us
If you would like to contact the development department please call 020 7747 5875 or email development@ng-london.org.uk

Please Note: In the event that the National Gallery is unsuccessful in raising sufficient funds to purchase Titian’s 'Diana and Actaeon', this donation will be used to save other masterpieces.

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【関連ニュース記事】
Tracey Emin says Government faces embarrassment if Titian paintings are lost
The artist Tracey Emin has said that the Government faces embarrassment if two paintings by Renaissance master Titian are lost to foreign buyers.
By Telegraph Reporter
Last Updated: 11:01PM GMT 10 Nov 2008


Emin delivers petition for Titian
The artist Tracey Emin visited Downing Street yesterday to deliver a letter signed by Lucian Freud, Antony Gormley, David Hockney and 37 other artists.
By Arifa Akbar, arts correspondent, Independent
Tuesday, 11 November 2008

12/05/2008 05:24 PM
TANGIBLE SOUND
A Table of Light, Playing Music of the Future
By Manfred Dworschak


Scientists in Barcelona have created a new musical instrument that will produce remarkable sounds, even for an untrained novice. But the 'Reactable' is more than a digital synthesizer. It might also point to a new way of using computers.

Rarely have men been seen playing with blocks with such devout intensity. Four stand around a circular table, placing colorful disks and cubes onto the surface, occasionally moving, rotating or plucking them off again.

Each of these seemingly minor changes produces an effect -- noise ranging from gurgles, taps or booming to a loud drumbeat. When the objects on the table are moved a new and unexpected sound results. Suddenly there's a buzzing, followed by a heavy stomping bass. The sky-blue glow of the tabletop reflects in the faces of these peculiar musicians.

The audience might be witnessing an advanced form of witchcraft. But they're hearing a musical instrument unlike anything they have ever heard or seen.

The disks on the table produce the sound. Each has its own magic. Some disks emit sounds of various timbres when they make contact with the table; others reshape these sounds when moved close to the first disks. There are "scrambler" disks, and flicker cubes, and rhythm dice. Some pieces produce a rougher or choppier sound. The possibilities for music are endless.

The magic table was created at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, where a group of young music musicologists have spent years searching for a completely different type of instrument. "It was supposed to be capable of doing anything we wanted it to," says Martin Kaltenbrunner, one of the designers, "and yet be extremely easy to play."

Their efforts have produced a powerful synthesizer that emits any conceivable sound, but doesn't look like a synthesizer at all. There are no knobs or cables, no keyboard and no intimidating technological interface. In fact it seems to consist of nothing more than a blue, luminous table and a pile of translucent pieces, called tangibles.

The table is called a "Reactable." It's been displayed at exhibits and conferences throughout Europe. It was recently awarded the Golden Nica prize at the Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria. Many museums already have a Reactable in their collections, and the device has been so successful that its creators now plan to offer it to the public.




To read the rest of article and for more links,
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,594709,00.html

Last Updated: December 8, 2008 00:01 EST

Met Opera Board Rolls Out Recession-Busting $25 Discount Seats
By Patrick Cole

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- New York’s Metropolitan Opera, with ticket sales lagging and the economy in recession, said it will offer some of its priciest seats for weekend evening performances at $25 each for the rest of the season.

Starting today, the opera company will hold a weekly drawing on its Web site, Metopera.org, for orchestra and grand tier seats that usually sell for $140 to $295, Met General Manager Peter Gelb said. The discount tickets are available only for Friday and Saturday evening operas and are subsidized by $3 million in donations from the Met’s board.

“What we’re experiencing is some resistance at the highest ticket prices, whereas last season we were consistently selling out tickets in the highest price brackets in days leading up to the performance,” Gelb said in a phone interview. “That’s obviously a result of the economy.”

The $3 million to discount about 16,000 seats came from a group of managing directors on the board, Gelb said. The Met’s 45 managing directors include hedge fund manager Bruce Kovner of Caxton Associates LLC; Mercedes Bass, wife of billionaire investor Sid Bass; and Agvar Chemicals Inc. founder Agnes Varis, who started the opera house’s program that offers $100 orchestra seats to the public for $20 on weeknights.

Gelb said ticket sales this season at the 3,800-seat opera house have slipped about “2 to 3 percent” from last season. Varis suggested that the Met set up a discount program to boost ticket sales, and the idea was approved by the board, he said. He couldn’t say how many discounted seats will be available for a single performance. Last season, the Met sold 88 percent of its tickets.

The public can enter the ticket drawing on Mondays from 10 a.m through midnight New York time at http://www.metopera.org. The drawing will take place on Tuesday mornings, and winners’ names will be posted on the Web site at noon, Gelb said. There is a limit of two tickets per entry.

Winners must purchase the tickets by noon Wednesday either at the company’s box office at Lincoln Center, Columbus Avenue near 64th Street in Manhattan, or by calling the Met’s ticket service at +1-212-362-6000.

To contact the writer on this story: Patrick Cole in New York at pcole3@bloomberg.net.



All copyright @ www.bloomberg.com

Originally posted: December 7, 2008
Chicago should get hip to theater-centered gathering space


LONDON—At 11 a.m., the lobbies of the National Theatre here are already filled with an eclectic array of businesspeople, students, tourists, artists and (given the times and based on some overheard conversation) the suddenly unemployed. By 4:30 p.m., an ever-expanding gaggle of high-school age students have taken over the banquets, espresso bar and theater bookstore. And a band has started to play. Later in the evening, the action has shifted to the packed-to-the-gills bar of the Royal Court Theatre, a venue in Sloane Square, the social epicenter of London’s well-born young professionals. Fueled by wine, ale and the decent chance of picking up a smart, well-dressed companion, conversation topics range from sex to Barack Obama to the Arsenal football team; from political scandals to leaking Tory members of Parliament to the horrors of Mumbai; from TV shows to holiday plans to the state of poetry.

Both the National and the Royal Court produce plays. Only a very small percentage of the people hanging out in their lobbies are actually going to that night’s show, however.



http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2008/12/chicago-should.html

Conventional wisdom: the classical music audience has always been the age it is now. Reality: It used to be younger -- dramatically younger, in fact. Here's some evidence -- primary sources (actual texts of old studies, links to NEA studies) -- plus two of my blog posts on this subject, and some anecdotal data.

From

Sandow
Greg Sandow on the future of classical music
"Age of Audience"

Ornamentation in past centuries was much freer than we often imagine. With a striking example!...
- Greg Sandow

I've talked many times here about performance practice in the past -- how musicians used to change the music they played, and how they often improvised their changes.

We know that, of course, and the standard word for what they used to do is "ornamentation." What we don't often hear, though, is how extensive those changes used to be. So here's a striking example. It's a passage from the Almamiva-Figaro duet in the first act of The Barber of Seville, as sung by Manuel Garcia, the tenor who created the role of Count Almaviva. It was published years later in a book, The Art of Singing, by his son, Manuel Garcia, Jr., one of the most famous voice teachers in the 19th century.

From

Sandow
Greg Sandow on the future of classical music
"How they used to do it"
2008 December

2009年ウィーンフィルのニューイヤーコンサート、
指揮は私の世界で一番敬愛する音楽家の一人で、私の道しるべ的存在の

巨匠ダニエル・バレンボイム

ですっ！！
うきゃ〜っ＞＜

遅まきながら、今知りました…（汗）

↓詳しくはコチラから↓
New Year's Concert 2009 with Daniel Barenboim


この興奮を発したい〜っ！
でも、だれもすぐに話せる人がいない〜っ！
てなわけで、書き込みしました。笑

あぁ、誰かわかってください、私のこの興奮。
世界中に向かって叫びたいっ☆←大げさ！？（苦笑）



2009年元日、ますます（！？）楽しみです☆
もうこれはTVの前で正座で聴かないと！