Musings on ballet, classical music, the violin, and life
The Classical Girl Marius Petipa’s 1898 classic, Raymonda, has long been due for a reboot. Set during the Crusades, it features a courtly knight and his betrothed, the helpless but beautiful Raymonda. In this current Bolshoi staging, the gallant Jean de Brienne heads off to fight the infidels, leaving Raymonda to fend for herself (or not) against a … Read more
Yuja Wang was the star we’d all come to see at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall last Sunday afternoon. A change in programming had rewarded us in dividends; she’d be performing not just one but two piano concertos. For most of the audience, I’m guessing, it was Ravel’s intense Piano Concerto for the Left Hand … Read more
The list must begin with the Violin Concerto. Because it all began with the Violin Concerto. For me, at least. Sure, I’d heard Samuel Barber’s ever-popular Adagio for Strings, but although I loved it like most people do, it was simply that “that lovely, affecting tear-jerker” from a compilation CD I’d had for years and … Read more
In 2004, San Francisco Ballet’s then-Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson took a creative leap with a new production of the perennially popular Nutcracker. Stakes were high; the San Francisco Ballet was, after all, the first U.S. company to stage and produce a full-length version (based on the Ivanov/Petipa 1892 original), which premiered on Christmas Eve, 1944, there … Read more
So I can hear your questions all the way from here. What is a NaNoWriMo, do you eat it or sprinkle it on your carpet after pet accidents? Does it hurt and/or does it involve outer space? National Novel Writing Month, its formal name, is a nonprofit organization that internationally promotes creative writing. It’s best … Read more