Local and Industry News
A year after moving to the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center, Broward Stage Door Theatre has closed its doors.
Illness of a lead actor and financial problems forced the Theatre to cancel performances of My One and Only, and the Lauderhill PAC cancelled the remaining three shows of the season. Broward Stage Door had served south Florida for 26 years.
Gerard Schwartz has been appointed distinguished professor of music, conducting, and orchestral studies at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. He will succeed Thomas Sleeper, who held the position for 25 years. Schwartz is conductor laureate of the Seattle Symphony, and he has been a frequent visitor to south Florida, guest conducting the Symphonia Boca Raton, the Palm Beach Symphony, and the Frost Symphony Orchestra.
A study at the University College London shows that participation in the arts raises children's self-esteem. The researchers studied over 6,000 children and found that those that participated in arts activities on most days were significantly more likely to have higher levels of self-esteem than those who participated less often, and double that of those that participated in the arts less than once a month.
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The domestic box office broke another record last year, with revenue up seven percent to $11.9 billion. The worldwide box office rose slightly, by one percent to $41.1 billion. The revenue was led by a string of blockbusters, including Disney's Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. Digital home entertainment also rose sixteen percent last year, to $55.7 billion in revenue.
Global recording industry revenue rose 9.7 percent last year, to $19.1 billion. This is the fourth year of rising revenue. Streaming revenue grew by 34 percent and was 47 percent of total revenue.
Universal Music Group had record earnings for the first quarter of 2019. Revenue rose 19 percent to $1.7 billion. Streaming, which rose over 28 percent, accounted for $832 million, or nearly half, of the revenue.
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Musicians of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra have ratified a new four-year agreement. Wages will rise two percent per year. Musicians will also receive a share of the net revenue from an annual benefit concert, guaranteed to be at least $2,000. Proceeds from the first benefit concert netted each musician $3,850 in bonuses.
The seven-week Chicago Symphony strike is over. Musicians have ratified a new five-year agreement after mayor Rahm Emanuel stepped in to assist with negotiations. The new contract raises wages two percent in each of the first two years, 2.5 percent in year three, 3.25 percent in year four, and 3.5 percent in year five. The pension plan will be frozen and the Symphony will start a new direct contribution plan. However, the Symphony will guarantee a minimum benefit, and if the direct contribution plan performs poorly, the Symphony will pay the difference as an annuity. Musicians have at least a year to negotiate the transition to the new plan, and a joint committee has been formed to come up with a way to make the retirement plans equitable for old and new hires.
Sebastian Lang-Lessing will leave the San Antonio Symphony after next season. Lang-Lessing has served as music director since 2010, and will remain in an advisory capacity as music director emeritus.
The State of Maryland has offered an additional $3.2 million in grants to the Baltimore Symphony. $1.6 would be paid in each of the next two years, in addition to $3.3 million the Symphony already receives from the state. Maryland would also create a working group of stakeholders, appointed by the legislature, to examine the Symphony's finances and recommend solutions for stabilizing the Symphony's finances. The Symphony is currently in contract negotiations, and has proposed reducing the season length from 52 weeks to 40 weeks as a way of balancing its budget.
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