{"id":1570,"date":"2010-02-15T09:30:32","date_gmt":"2010-02-15T14:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/?p=1570"},"modified":"2010-02-16T09:16:52","modified_gmt":"2010-02-16T14:16:52","slug":"end-of-an-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/news\/2010\/end-of-an-era\/","title":{"rendered":"End of an Era"},"content":{"rendered":"
So, this morning, I packed up my apartment in London and am headed back to New York “\u201d here is a list of the detritus accumulated during the month’s stay: 1 map of London, affix’t to the wall with blu-tak, 15 wine corks fallen behind the computer, \u00a316 in loose change, 1 bottle of ginger wine (unopened), 1 bottle of Dubonnet (one last sip left, but at 9 in the morning I wasn’t about to fuck with it), a USB cable with the word “TONY?” scrawled on it, a promotional pamphlet for the Diva Cup<\/a>, a tube of somebody’s tinted lip chap, an envelope that used to contain a phone number on it until J\u00f3nsi<\/a> wrote all over it in marker, a toenail clipping (!), a note I wrote to myself on a picture of the Queen that says, “Warshing Upp Liquid,” and a piece of manuscript paper with four notes written on it (G, C, B and E, descending from the top of the staff to the bottom line.)<\/p>\n I am proud of this.<\/p>\n I am also proud that my opera is finally announced and organized; you can read about it in plain-speak here<\/a> and in slightly plainer speak here<\/a>. I got a slew of really nice emails and notes from people “\u201d thank you! I also made the mistake of reading some really horrible comments about “me,” which I stopped reading about six in, but which Danny addressed here<\/a>. I’m excited about new opera, anybody’s new opera! And so should we all be. Putting on an opera is an Herculean Feat and I stand in awe of any composer who has forded that particular river, from Corigliano<\/a> to Floyd<\/a> to Adams<\/a> to Glass to Adamo<\/a> to Monica to Erica to Rita to Tina. <\/p>\n Has everybody been reading John Adams’s blog? There’s something very wonderful about the design of it, I think, even though it reminds me a lot of Candyman<\/em>? <\/p>\n And we’ve all been dealing with how the Philadelphia Orchestra, bless their hearts, launched this weird campaign online, called Unexpect Yourself? Read Amanda Ameer about it here<\/a>. The whole thing breaks my heart, not just because it’s appalling to look at, but also because it just pongs so acutely of corporate groupthink. I much prefer a doomed campaign to have at least a human touch, rather than this, which is just so awful. I’m going to Philadelphia in a few days to see Tan Dun’s opera Tea<\/em>, and I will investigate the physical reality of this campaign. The thing is this, and this relates to my opera haters, too. We’re all in this together. We all want the world to be a beautiful place, where music radiates out and touches the ears of the rich, the poor, the monarch and the slave, right? So when we criticize each other, let it be in the interests of this project, rather than just to spit bile. <\/a>If I say something nasty about an arts organization, I’m not trying to booty shake on its grave<\/a>. I’m also trying to do it publicly, and with my name on it, so that there is some kind of personal responsibility, which is precisely what the Philadelphia campaign lacks. <\/p>\n There is probably room here for a brief aside about the (necessary) corporate structures that support arts organizations versus the public faces of them; I think that in general, organizations that have somebody from the management with a name, publicly visible, are very smart, because you can feel a Curatorial Hand guiding you through your season there. The Wigmore Hall is like that; John Gilhooly sort of escorts one through the concerts. This applies to other brands, too; I think that Virgin are wise to have Richard Branson be so public “\u201d\u00c2\u00a0this way, criticism<\/a> can be directional. Instead of spending all that money on stock photos of white people, surely what Philly needs is any human being who can go to the world and be an advocate for what’s going on there. Perhaps that’s Allison Vulgamore? Questions, questions. I guess what I’m loosely getting at here is that I want everybody “\u201d artists, people who hate their art, presenters, producers “\u201d to be good advocates, griots, and ambassadors for their work & ideas.<\/p>\n <\/a>I know it’s really considered rude to bite the hand that feeds, but a good example of a doomed campaign that at least has a human touch is the New York Philharmonic’s new logo<\/a>, right? It’s shocking, and the thing is we all know it<\/em>. Urrybody. It’s nobody who thinks this thing is alright. I showed it to my web designer and he looked like somebody hat opened the Arc of the Covenant. I mean, look at the M! Look at the W! This is really some entry-level Adobe\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 Illustrator put-text-on-a-line shit right there. <\/a> But what I like about it is that you can tell that somebody hunched over a desk really loving on<\/strong> that W. Somebody really cared for that H, and its busted twin. Somebody manipulated that raggedy-ass K by hand and somebody else walked by the desk and said, “good work, team!” It’s touching, in its way. But I would actually like to ask if there exists a sentient being somewhere who thinks that logo is even remotely okay, and if so, please announce yourself (by Name) to the concierge’s desk and tell me WHY. It’s by the same lady who did the Met’s logo, which is gorgeous! So it could be one of those things like how every composer has one fucked up piece that nobody likes, or that just takes a little more time to get used to. I would take a bullet for Steve Reich but for years I couldn’t bear to listen to that Anatevka-tastic slow movement of “You Are.” And eventually I came ’round when a singer told me, at (drunken) length, how much she loved it. I was convinced! Maybe I can be convinced of this logo! It just is gonna take a face, a smile, and a good argument.<\/p>\n