By Carl Gaines 7/02/12 2:13pm

philanthropy

Alec Baldwin.

Baldwin’s Capital One Earnings Continue Flow to Arts

Newlywed Alec Baldwin has gifted the New York Philharmonic a cool $1 million to honor Zarin Mehta, the orchestra’s departing president and executive director. Mr. Mehta, whom musical director Alan Gilbert has credited with supporting cutting edge programming choices like last week’s concerts at the Park Avenue Armory, will leave in August 2012 when his contract expires.

The money is proceeds from Mr. Baldwin’s Capital One Bank commercials, and part of ongoing donations from money he’s earned from those ads to his favorite cultural institutions. This has also involved synergy with Capital One Bank itself making donations, as described in a Wall Street Journal news item last year about the actor’s philanthropic activities. Read More

By Elisabeth Franck 12/11/00 12:00am

Having Retired the Great Masur, Philharmonic Can’t Find Maestro

When the New York Philharmonic decided in early 1998 that it would not renew musical director Kurt Masur’s tenure past 2002, it somewhat recklessly entered a nationwide scramble that already had the cities of Cleveland and Philadelphia–and soon Boston–vying to find replacements for their own departing maestros. With the orchestra playing better than it had Read More