In His Own Words

Alexander Neef, General Director


4/22/2010

Moses in Chicago

Because of a delayed flight I barely made it to the hotel yesterday in time for my meeting with Andreas Melinat. Andy, as everybody calls him, is the Artistic Administrator of Chicago Lyric Opera. They have already finished their season and we spent an hour discussing singers, programming and the challenges of producing opera in North America. Next season, we will be co-producing Handel's Hercules with the Lyric, in a production by Peter Sellars. I am very proud of this collaboration and just a bit sad that our Toronto public will have to wait a few seasons until we will present the production. It is firmly programmed!


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4/4/2010

On a Sunny Easter Sunday

It is a warm and beautiful Easter Sunday here in New York and I spent the morning at the Metropolitan Museum at the exhibition of Agnolo Bronzino's fascinating Renaissance drawings.

Now, I am at Newark Liberty Airport waiting for my flight to Toronto to board.

Yesterday, I spent a good part of the day at the Museum of Modern Art. The permanent collection alone is a reason to go there as frequently as possible, but at the moment they are also presenting a few extraordinary special exhibitions: all of the museum's Water Lillies by Claude Monet in one room; a retrospective of William Kentridge's work; and—for me the most fascinating of all—the first American retrospective of the performance artist Marina Abramović, The Artist Is Present. This exhibit ncludes a new work with Abramović herself performing almost every single day from March 14 until the end of May for entire duration of the museum's opening hours. I believe there is a live video-stream on the MOMA's website www.moma.org to give you an idea. I was endlessly fascinated.


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4/3/2010

Hamlet

After my return from Washington yesterday I had lunch with Matthew Epstein, who is always full of ideas and enthusiasm for the COC; met with Alec Treuhaft, a senior vice-president and head of the Vocal Division of IMG Artists New York, and finally fought my way through afternoon traffic to Tribeca for a meeting with Catherine Malfitano. The famous soprano is also a director now and we are discussing a project for the COC.


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