Rio de Janeiro's showy new Cidade da Música, designed by Christian de Portzamparc, had its official opening just after Christmas, even though construction won't be finished for six months. With costs having sextupled and Cariocas fuming that the money should have been spent on health, education and transport, the city's new mayor has halted all work and spending on the project pending a major audit.... ArtsJournal mclennan

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the group of young musicians from Israel and the Arab world founded and led by Daniel Barenboim, has called off upcoming performances in Cairo and Doha, Qatar. The ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas has prompted concerns about the musicians' safety.... ArtsJournal mclennan

"The bronze figure, one of only a handful of casts remaining in private hands, is expected to fetch £9-12 million when it is auctioned at Sotheby's on February 3."... ArtsJournal mclennan

A New Jersey foundation has created a series of 12 short soap opera episodes, shot and edited for mobile phones, aimed at encouraging condom use among young women who wouldn't pay attention to pamphlets.... ArtsJournal mclennan

"As far as I could tell, Betty Freeman did not have a sentimental bone in her body. An arts patron like no other, she supported an extraordinary contingent of important composers… but she immediately lost interest in them after they died. She cared about the living, about new work, about the future, not the past. Once someone was gone, she moved on. Now she's gone."... ArtsJournal mclennan

Bassist John Miller is a Broadway orchestra contractor, the go-to guy if you're trying to put together a Frankie Valli-style combo for Jersey Boys, replace an oboist or violinist in the orchestra for Les Miz or find a pipa player for M. Butterfly.... ArtsJournal mclennan

"The Joffrey Ballet on Monday held a ribbon cutting ceremony to open its official school, the Academy of Dance."... ArtsJournal mclennan

"Numbers - for both revenues and bodies in seats - are up at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, where the 2008 holiday concerts did very well indeed. Despite the fact that the SLSO offered three fewer performances in 2008 than it did in 2007, attendance was up 3%, while revenues increased by 12.5%."... ArtsJournal mclennan

"Hyundai Motor Co. will use music by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a Super Bowl XLIII television commercial that consumers can re-edit online, Billboard has learned."... ArtsJournal mclennan

A mainstay of London's early music scene for more than 25 years, Bonner performed and recorded with the Tallis Scholars (1,100 concerts), the Gabrieli Consort and Players, The Sixteen, the Taverner Consort, Collegium Vocale, the King's Consort and many other groups.... ArtsJournal mclennan

As the price for recycled materials falls along with the economy, some artists are taking advantage. One crochets strips of plastic shopping bags (she prefers Target's) into baskets; another has made a bra from old TAB cans; a third transforms frozen orange juice containers into surprisingly attractive lanterns.... ArtsJournal mclennan

"In the 19th century, the venue played host to minstrel and magic shows. In the 1970s, it served as a porn cinema. Now Leeds' Victorian assembly rooms have been reinvented once again - as a new space for Opera North. Next week sees the formal opening of the Howard Assembly Room, the culmination of a £31m refurbishment of Opera North's base, the Leeds Grand Theatre."... ArtsJournal mclennan

"Dance on film can exist as an art form quite different from dance onstage. When a director makes us see or think about movement in new ways, or uses a camera as a choreographic tool to amplify our senses, dance and film can seem a perfect fit."... ArtsJournal mclennan

QRS Music Technologies, the sole remaining mass producer of the paper rolls used in mechanical player pianos, punched out its last of the iconic sheets last week. "The roll market has continued to decline, which is no surprise," said an official of the company, which years ago began concentrating on digital piano technology.... ArtsJournal mclennan

"Why are they still making guitars with 'real' strings that are difficult and boring to learn how to play and really make your fingers hurt? What is the point? Do we still slaughter our own cows? Dig our own wells? Work in the turnip fields for 18 hours a day, six days a week? No." The solution is obvious: Redesign the guitar. Buttons only this time.... ArtsJournal

Poet-performer John Hegley says there's no cause for panic about the health of Morris dancing: "The Morris is a mate of mine the rumours state it's in decline! My answer is a little dull, it's not decline - it's just a lull: like concertinas squeeze to shut until the arms unbend, like deckchairs go back in the hut at every summer's end."... ArtsJournal

"A company of disabled and non-disabled dancers, Candoco was never going to settle for sideshow status: it was main billing or nothing. And now, they're players on the world stage."... ArtsJournal

"With the recession and credit crunch licking at our boots and high heels, many more artists will be joining the ranks of the starving or cash-poor, while every penny goes on paint, canvas, paper, pen, music sheets, strings, rosin, film or video. ... What we need is not more artists, nor fewer, but more saints - such as the Carnegie or MacArthur foundations - willing to sprinkle a little seed money into the path of deserving artists, that their tiny hands may not be frozen."... ArtsJournal

"While Iraq struggles to return to peaceful normality, the British have been working to restore some of the country's pride in its past - with a museum."... ArtsJournal

"Seven senior lawyers convened in New York last month to reconsider the case against Shylock, Shakespeare's money lender in The Merchant of Venice. One of those lawyers, Anthony Julius - best known for representing Princess Diana in her divorce from Prince Charles - explains why he voted to let merchant Antonio keep the money after all."... ArtsJournal