Sideshow: Maestro Muti off to Chicago
Riccardo Muti has been named music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The Italian maestro has signed a five-year contract starting in the 2010-11 season.
Riccardo Muti
has been named music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The Italian maestro has signed a five-year contract starting in the 2010-11 season.
Muti, 66, was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1980 to 1992. From 1986 to 2005, he was music director of Teatro alla Scala in Milan and has spent the last few years as a guest conductor. In 2007, he was given a role with the New York Philhamonic much like that of a principal guest conductor.
"The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, after an absence of 32 years, reentered my life last September, and the immediate connection with the wonderful musicians of the CSO made a very powerful impression," Muti said in a statement. "This musical strength just kept growing during our successful European tour. Sometimes when you least expect it, the timing and the situation unite."
- Peter Dobrin
Scarlett and Ryan go public
Ryan Reynolds
, who was terrific in the role of three different yet equally befuddled men in
The Nines
, has become engaged to
Scarlett Johansson
, star of
Black Dahlia
and
The Other Boleyn Girl
. Ryan has never married, though he was once engaged to
Alanis Morissette
.
Michelle Obama comes clean
Entertainment and gossip TV newsmagazine
Entertainment Tonight
has uncovered
Michelle Obama
's "secret celebrity crush."
In an interview set to air in two parts last night and tonight, presidential candidate
Barack Obama
's wife 'fesses up that (like millions of men and women across the globe) she adores "
Will Smith
."
Says Mrs. Obama, "I think it's the ears. I'm drawn to the ears. Obviously!"
Hanks backs Obama
Tom Hanks
favors
Barack Obama
in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Hanks used his MySpace.com page to announce his support for the Illinois Democrat.
"As an official celebrity, I know my endorsement has just made your mind up for you," the 51-year-old actor says in a short video titled, "Beware: Celebrity Endorsement."
"History with a capital 'H' is going to be made this November, no matter who the president-elect is. I want Barack Obama to be president of this country, a country that once said people with his skin color were only three-fifths of a human being."
Tom Cruise, the visionary
Even as the world's top forensic anthropologists and gossipologicians continue to pore over
Tom Cruise
's historic chat Friday with
Oprah
, searching for sub rosa meanings and hidden prophecies, the second part of the interview was broadcast yesterday.
If on Friday Oprah asked Tom tough questions about his marriage and his religion, yesterday she was all sweetness. She paid tribute to Tom's 25-year service to Hollywood, playing videotaped messages from
Steven Spielberg
,
Jamie Foxx
,
Renee Zellweger
and
Dustin Hoffman
.
Tom is never just content. "How can I keep challenging myself more? There's always something else," said Tom, clearly lusting for more adventure, more cinematic art, and more service to his nation and its people.
Katie's theatrics?
The New York Daily News has microwaved, re-sauced and re-served rumors that
Katie Holmes
, 29, will return to the stage for the first time since high school for a part in a new Broadway production of
Arthur Miller
's heartrending post-WWII drama
All My Sons
.
She may hold the key to
Tom Cruise
's heart, but Katie would have to hold her own against two formidable thesps: 1967 Harvard alumn
John Lithgow
(magna cum laude) and Oscar-winner
Dianne Wiest
.
More 'Iron' in nation's diet
Following the success of
Robert Downey Jr.
's solidly studly turn in
Iron Man
, Marvel Studios yesterday announced it would release
Iron Man 2
on April 30, 2010.
The lil' studio that could (transform Marvel comic books into great flicks) also revealed four other films in the pipeline:
Thor
, due out June 4, 2010;
The First Avenger: Captain America
, May 6, 2011;
The Avengers
, July 2011; and
Ant-Man
, which is in development but has no release date.
And Marvel's
The Incredible Hulk
, starring
Edward Norton
, is due out June 13.
Trent Reznor and the big giveaway
Nine Inch Nails
, two months after giving away nine songs from its instrumental album
Ghosts I-IV
for free on NIN.com, is giving away its latest studio album,
The Slip
, in its entirety as a download.
NIN singer and songwriter
Trent Reznor
writes on the band's site that the album is "a thank you to our fans for your continued support."
Reznor is no fan of the recording industry, which he has said overcharges for CDs. During a concert he once encouraged fans to get back at the industry. "Steal, steal and steal some more," he said.
Cruel, yes. But royalty, he is not!
The British press is outraged by a report in the London Sun claiming
Simon Cowell
, 48, the most important
and
most venomous figure in music since
Antonio Salieri
, has persuaded authorities across England to give him carte blanche to park his $400,000 Rolls-Royce anywhere he likes - a privilege enjoyed only by
Queen Elizabeth II
.
Let's hope this parking violation counts as high treason: Off with Si's head!
No remarks from Mr. Cowell.
Miley's name washed and pressed
A judge has approved
Destiny Hope Cyrus
' application to legally change her name to
Miley Ray Cyrus
.
Hairdo: Sublime or apocalyptic?
silk autumn blossoms
sun in feathered decades still
hip dance floor mover
So writes a music fan only identified as
Nikki
, who composed this 5-7-5 syllable verse about
John Mayer's Hairdo
and sent it to People mag as an answer to John Mayer the musician's challenge that citizens give him feedback about his new, '80s-inspired haircut in a format taken from Japanese haiku.
"I want everyone who reads People magazine to know how important this haircut is," Mayer said on May Day. "It's important because it draws people together," he said of his hair's magical, totemic powers. "Feel it. Run your fingers through my hair, and tell me what it feels like." (
Eeew!
)
My favorite: "Big head, feathered hair/ Ego and publicity /Silken confidence," by
Ang
.