So Much To Say
This is a brief detour from a big post coming later to summarize the last two evenings, but it must be done. I woke up this morning and was reading about the concert in Salzburg, Austria held to celebrate what would be the 250th birthday of Mozart. In the middle of the article (it's in the NY Times, registration required but free), I ran into this:
"The concert was broadcast around the world on radio. It was also televised in most of the civilized world, which evidently no longer includes the United States. It was not picked up by Channel 13, PBS or — to the knowledge of itsdirector, Brian Large — any other American outlet: a slight made all the more remarkable by the expected presence of two noted American singers, Ms. Fleming and Mr. Hampson."
Seriously? Is the U.S. that backward that not a single media outlet picked up the Vienna Philharmonic paying tribute to Mozart on his 250th birthday?!? This is heartbreaking. I really like classical music, I'm thrilled that there's a real classical station in DC, and that the opera and other cultural activities are actually accessible via the Kennedy Center, but it's a real letdown that so few of my peers feel the same way (apparently this ambivalence and sometimes outright dislike spans generations given the news above). Come on people, would a little culture kill ya? Give it a chance! Start here, check out your local arts scene, and let the strings take you away...
End of PSA. Stories of the drinking smoking chatty madness of the last two nights coming soon.
"The concert was broadcast around the world on radio. It was also televised in most of the civilized world, which evidently no longer includes the United States. It was not picked up by Channel 13, PBS or — to the knowledge of itsdirector, Brian Large — any other American outlet: a slight made all the more remarkable by the expected presence of two noted American singers, Ms. Fleming and Mr. Hampson."
Seriously? Is the U.S. that backward that not a single media outlet picked up the Vienna Philharmonic paying tribute to Mozart on his 250th birthday?!? This is heartbreaking. I really like classical music, I'm thrilled that there's a real classical station in DC, and that the opera and other cultural activities are actually accessible via the Kennedy Center, but it's a real letdown that so few of my peers feel the same way (apparently this ambivalence and sometimes outright dislike spans generations given the news above). Come on people, would a little culture kill ya? Give it a chance! Start here, check out your local arts scene, and let the strings take you away...
End of PSA. Stories of the drinking smoking chatty madness of the last two nights coming soon.
posted by lunchbox at 9:26 AM
2 Comments:
i'm your peer and i like classical. and mozart. and opera! but i'm not writing to be defensive, just to let you know that i knew the austrian embassy was near van ness because i had been looking at tickets to concerts there in celebration of said mozart's b-day. (sorry for long poorly worded sentence). I decided i couldn't afford mozart, but then ended up dropping just as much $$$ last nite on....R.E.Lee? anyhoo, check this out: www.embassyseries.org. Tschues!
i like classical stuff too!!! HYP and i took in a julliard master class performance of some concerto in decemeber. and seriously, i'm appauled too....esp. since watching the vienna philharmonic on new year's day is a TRADITION in the funkmeister's house. (ps, i even have photos of me in front of mozart statues in vienna, but i don't reccommend the mozart krugle unless you really like coconut!!)
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