Arts Digest
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
COURT AFFIRMS GRAHAM CENTER’S VICTORY
The United States Court of Appeals yesterday ruled in favor of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, upholding the United States District Court’s ruling regarding ownership of her dances and the related sets and costumes.
Ronald Protas, Graham’s heir, had claimed ownership of the dances and licensing rights to the work. In 2003, however, judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the center. She found, and the appellate court affirmed, that Graham was an employee of the Center between 1966 and her death in 1991, and that works she created during that time were works-for-hire whose rights the center retains. The appellate court also affirmed that Mr. Protas breached his fiduciary duties as artistic director of the Martha Graham Dance Company and must pay the center damages.
TILSON THOMAS CALLS OFF CARNEGIE SHOW
Carnegie Hall has canceled “Michael Tilson Thomas on Stravinsky,” the two-day event scheduled to take place on December 10 and 12.The program was to be part of Mr. Tilson Thomas’s participation in Carnegie Hall’s “Perspectives,” through which select artists create programs for the hall.
Mr. Tilson Thomas, the conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, is also the founder and artistic director of the New World Symphony. Both groups were to perform during this season as part of Mr. Tilson Thomas’s “Perspectives” series. The San Francisco Symphony will still perform with Mr. Tilson Thomas two times next March.
Carnegie Hall spokesperson Raechel Alexander said the cancellations came from the New World Symphony and didn’t have a further explanation.
This is the second and final year of Mr. Tilson Thomas’s “Perspectives” series. Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and soprano Dawn Upshaw will conclude their own one-year long “Perspectives” at Carnegie Hall this year.
