The Classical Girl

Rachmaninov’s spooky “Isle of the Dead”

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You’ve quite possibly seen a copy of “Isle of the Dead,” a painting by Swiss symbolist artist, Arnold Böcklin. The dreamy, haunting portrait depicts a small rowboat traversing a lake. In the boat a figure shrouded in white stands, transporting a draped coffin, as the rower behind steers the boat to shore, a rocky island … Read more

“Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”

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Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is gorgeous, ethereal and, I came to discover, difficult to capture in words. Out for dinner the other night, I confessed to my husband that I was having trouble getting my essay about it off the ground. It was so clear in my mind, the … Read more

World Ballet Day 2021: Who and When

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Is there a World Ballet Day happening in 2022? Happy to report, yes! It’s November 2nd and details are HERE.   It’s officially World Ballet Day 2021! It’s Tuesday, Oct 19th (in Australia – here on the West Coast it’s 6pm) and here’s the all-important link: https://worldballetday.com The annual event is hosted once again by … Read more

Presenting “Joy Womack: the White Swan”

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Picture this. You are an American teen, utterly enthralled by ballet, Russian ballet in particular. You’re an aspiring ballerina and you’re really, really, really good. The Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, having seen you dance, invites you to study with them. And not just the program for foreigners; this is the prestigious mainstream training for … Read more

Waking to Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “The Lark Ascending”

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Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “The Lark Ascending” falls into that delicious category for me, of classical pieces I discover upon awakening. On weekdays I set my iPad alarm to an HD classical station and at 4:06am the music pierces my dreams, awakening me in the kindest of ways (until the “real” alarm blasts me out of … Read more