Musings on ballet, classical music, the violin, and life
The Classical Girl We are living in a time rife with uncertainty, upheaval and high tension, for which, I’ve decided, Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the perfect antidote. Created in 1962 to music by Felix Mendelssohn, it was George Balanchine’s first original full-length ballet, and quickly hailed as a masterpiece. San Francisco Ballet audiences haven’t seen it since 1986, … Read more
It’s February 2020, and you know what that means? The Classical Girl has turned seven! The Classical Girl, as longtime readers might know, was a concept I’d created on the eve of 2013. A New Year’s resolution of sorts. My ballet novels were long completed, out being shopped (or already killed on the editorial-board table), … Read more
Claude Debussy’s “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” ranks right up there alongside his “Clair de Lune,” “Beau Soir” and “Afternoon of a Faun” on my “favorite short classical pieces” list. In spite of their brevity, all of them immediately transport you, taking you to a vivid, sensual, evocative place that, once you’ve returned to the … Read more
At last the San Francisco Ballet has returned to the stage at the War Memorial Opera House, commencing with their 75th anniversary performance of Nutcracker, North America’s first full-length production, a fact we SFB patrons are mighty proud of. The Nutcracker run has finished, alas, and as we burst into the New Year, my eye is now … Read more
I first heard César Franck’s “Panis Angelicus” in December when my husband and I were living in London. While holiday shopping, I picked up a compilation CD entitled “Sacred Songs for Christmas,” drawn by the fact that some of the songs and carols were new to my American ears. Back home, I gave the CD … Read more