The biggest arts stories of 2009

Terry Kurtenbach addresses concerned supporters of the Skylight at the Catalano Square showdown. Photo by Brian Jacobson.

1. The Skylight Opera Theatre mess. Talk about your back-stage drama: Artistic director, Bill Theisen, fired amid financial panic! Singers and dancers in the streets with picket signs and then boycotting the company! Key donor/manager/artistic figure Colin Cabot flying in from New Hampshire to try to set things right! Managing director Eric Dillner quits under fire! Former managing director Joan Lounsbery flies from California! Dissident actors return to the fold, throw benefit for the company! Theisen returns! Company opens season with a brilliant Barber of Seville!

Edo de Waart conducts a rehearsal of the MSO. Photo by Patti Wenzel.

2. The Milwaukee Symphony‘s smooth transition from music director Andreas Delfs to Edo de Waart. When an incredible piece of luck presented itself — world-class maestro Edo de Waart living in Middleton, of all places, and available — MSO management seized the moment. Things could not have worked out any better for the orchestra, which gave Delfs a yearlong, fond farewell in 2008-2009, even as the players and audience got to know de Waart. De Waart has built on Delfs’ foundation and has the orchestra playing at an extraordinary level. A break in leadership and a long search would have been so damaging; instead, the MSO came up roses.

Mark Clements addressing the Rep's party at the Harley museum. Photo by Brian Jacobson.

3. The Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s smooth transition from artistic director Joseph Hanreddy to Mark Clements. Clements won’t take over until this summer, but this hire bears a striking similarity to Delfs/de Waart at the MSO. Every company should have such an orderly transition with no apparent rancor from local legend to major international name.

The Florentine presented Handel’s baroque classic Semele in 2009. Photo by Richard Brodzeller.

4. The Florentine Opera generated two big stories in 2009: The exhilarating, imaginative production of Handel’s Semele packed the Pabst Theater and showed that the Florentine can go far beyond its usual mainstream rep and style. More important, Semele also showed that the Florentine audience, presumed to be ultra-conservative, will follow it.

TCD tours the new rehearsal facility. Photo by Brian Jacobson.

The other Florentine story is the development of a beautiful new rehearsal space and production offices at Weil and Burleigh in Riverwest. This space should encourage creative ferment at the company, and it could be just the second (the Danceworks studio is the first) bare-bones, low-rent, small-performance venue Milwaukee needs. The Florentine’s space is also wonderful for the neighborhood.

Andy Warhol's Last Supper (1986)

5. The Andy Warhol show at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Some have taken issue with the premise of curator Joe Ketner, who argued that the show reveals a different, private Andy Warhol that runs counter to the conventional wisdom of who the artist was and what his work means. All that aside, this was an important show by any measure. The entire art world buzzed about it, over 100,000 attended it, and the show was an overwhelming experience.

The Milwaukee Ballet's Jodi Peck Center, in Walker's Point.

The likely biggest story of 2010: The Milwaukee Ballet will at least start agitating for a new home to replace its charming but crumbling edifice at Fifth and National. With the need great and the economy improving, it might happen, especially if the company partners with the UWM Peck School of the Arts, Danceworks or some other suitable party.

Marvin Hamlisch directs the MSO Pops. Photo by Brian Jacobson.