Morning Report - News from Oct. 1, 2002

THE ARTS

Young Musicians Alum

Wins Conductors’ Prize

Bundit Ungrangsee, 31-year-old conductor and alumnus of the Young Musicians Foundation in Los Angeles, took one of the two top honors in the first Maazel/Vilar Conductors’ Competition in New York’s Carnegie Hall on Saturday.

Jurors chose Ungrangsee and Xian Zhang, 28, of China, as the competition’s laureates from more than 360 conductors. Ungrangsee and Zhang each receive a period of mentorship with New York Philharmonic Music Director Lorin Maazel, several professional engagements to be arranged by the competition and a cash stipend of $45,000.

The competition, open to conductors under age 35, drew applicants from more than 40 countries. Eight semifinalists were invited to New York to perform for jurors last week.

Born in Bangkok, Ungrangsee began as a classical guitarist and earned a master’s degree in music at the University of Michigan. He launched his U.S. conducting career in 1996 as music director and conductor of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles. He served three years, until May 1999. Since September 2000, he has served as associate conductor of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.

The Maazel/Vilar finalists included Joana Carneiro, 26, of Portugal, who in July began her own three-year term as music director of the YMF Debut Orchestra.

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Rijksmuseum to Open Satellite Space at Airport

Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum will open a satellite exhibition space at the city’s Schiphol Airport in November. Designed by Benthem Crouwel, the space will cover about 1,700 square feet and will offer free admission.

Its permanent collection will include 10 Dutch Old Masters, among them works by Rembrandt, Jan Steen and Pieter de Hooch. In addition, several temporary exhibitions yearly will draw on collections of the Rijksmuseum and other Dutch museums.

Although many other airports, including San Francisco International, have long included exhibition spaces in passenger terminals, Rijksmuseum officials told the Art Newspaper that this is the first time a museum has used an airport terminal as a permanent exhibition space.

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POP/ROCK

Elvis Album, Beatles Song Top British Charts

If you think it will be strange having an Elvis Presley album topping the U.S. sales chart when figures are announced Wednesday, imagine what it’s like in England, where they not only have Presley’s “Elvis: 30 #1 Hits� at No. 1 on the album charts, but also a Beatles song on top of the singles chart.

It’s not the Beatles’ original 1970 version of “The Long and Winding Road� at No. 1 in Britain this week, but a new rendition by Will Young and Gareth Gates, who gained fame in England through “Pop Idol,� the TV show that led to the “American Idol� program in this country.

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El Rey Acts Are

Seeking New Venues

More venue changes for shows booked at the El Rey Theatre, which has been closed for two weeks because of damage to the L.A. building’s ceiling: Midtown will play at the Palace tonight; Clinic’s Thursday show has been canceled and its Friday date has moved to the Palace; Les Claypool has been rescheduled from Oct. 12 to Oct. 15 at the Palace; Brad on Oct. 13 and Sparta on Oct. 14 both move to the Roxy; and Patty Griffin on Oct. 14 has been relocated to the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.

No date has been announced for the El Rey’s reopening

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LEGAL FILE

Ticketmaster to Honor

Its Gift Certificates

Ticketmaster gift certificates purchased in California may be redeemed at any time, even if they have an expiration date on them, the district attorney’s office in Sacramento reports.

Under terms of a settlement announced by that government agency, Ticketmaster will pay more than $427,000 in civil penalties for having violated state law since 1997 by continuing to put expiration dates on gift certificates. The company will no longer do so and will ignore any such date on certificates already issued, the district attorney’s office said.

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QUICK TAKES

Matt Lauer will be co-hosting NBC’s “Today� show from Havana on Oct. 11 as he helps report on an international conference pegged to the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.... The Al Jarreau-Chris Botti concert at the Wadsworth Theater on Friday has been canceled because Jarreau is recovering from surgery. Botti has been added to the lineup for a free concert in Pasadena’s Central Park on Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.... Vince Neil, M.C. Hammer, Emmanuel Lewis and Corey Feldman are among the celebrities on board for the WB’s unscripted series “The Surreal Life,� in which they’ll move into a house for two weeks and have their lives taped around the clock.... Tom Hanks will star in “The Ladykillers,� a remake of the 1955 British black comedy that the Coen brothers have reset in the American South.... David Mamet will create an hourlong drama series for NBC.