http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin RSS Feed for Inq Col Peter Dobrin en-us Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:05:44 GMT http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20081006_New_York_Philharmonic_makes_a_visit.html While the New York Philharmonic awaits new blood with the arrival next season of Alan Gilbert, who it has on the podium now is hardly a compromise. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20081004_Orchestra_s_Dutoit__In_charge__beautifully.html In some cities - Los Angeles and Chicago come to mind - a music director gets hired after leading a program or two. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20080930_A_week_like_no_other.html The moment at which the Philadelphia Orchestra's purpose in life achieved greatest clarity came at 8 p.m. That's the time the ensemble starts most of its concerts, but not on this late-September Tuesday. This one had started at 6 p.m., not in a concert hall but at City Hall. And six hours earlier, a city police officer had been killed. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20080925__Maestro__opens_his_heart.html The relationship between conductor and orchestra, the nuanced swerve of a baton and ensuing sound production, authority and eager submissiveness - it's a thoroughly confounding matter. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20080923_Art_Museum_names_a_new_curator.html In its first curatorial hire since the death of longtime director Anne d'Harnoncourt, the Philadelphia Museum of Art has named Peter D. Barberie curator of photographs. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20080914_In_their_words__Celebrating_Anne_d_Harnoncourt.html The life and career of Anne d'Harnoncourt, director and chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art who died June 1, were celebrated last Sunday at a memorial service at the Academy of Music. Following are excerpts from remarks of some of those who spoke. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20080911_Art_Museum_launches_search_for_new_director.html The Philadelphia Museum of Art has assembled a search committee to identify a new director. Eight members - all Art Museum trustees - will work on a committee cochaired by cultural leader Martha Morris and businessman/art collector Keith L. Sachs to find a successor to Anne d'Harnoncourt, the longtime director who died unexpectedly June 1. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20080829__ArtsWatch_.html Inquirer critic and culture writer Peter Dobrin tells you who's making news, noise and splash in the Philadelphia arts world and beyond at http://go.philly.com/ artswatch. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20080826_Finding_a_fit_successor_to_Sawallisch.html The Philadelphia Orchestra burned through a lot of music-director prospects last season. At the outset, in September, the roster brimmed with nearly a half-dozen conductors whose reputations or previous visits raised expectations. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20080825_Nico_Muhly__Eclectic_mix_from_a_musical_polymath.html In the gentle aesthetic cultivated by Nico Muhly, just about anything is likely to turn up. Folk tunes run like a ragged, bright thread through his music, but glints of minimalism peek through the woven assemblages, as do early music and electronic techniques pioneered three decades before the New York-based composer's birth in 1981.