The Classical Girl

Get Well Soon, William Bennett!

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William Bennett, principal oboist with the San Francisco Symphony, collapsed onstage on Saturday evening, while performing as soloist in Richard Strauss’ Oboe Concerto. As I wasn’t there at Davies Symphony Hall that night, I’ll let the news articles do the explaining. http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_22661083/star-oboist-san-francisco-symphony-collapses-stage-mid and http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/S-F-Symphony-oboist-has-stroke-onstage-4304378.php From the news I can glean today, Tuesday, he is still in … Read more

The Curse of the Ninth

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This first appeared at Violinist.com in March 2010 Back in the late 19th and early 20th century a superstition developed in the classical music world that prophesied the Ninth would be a composer’s last symphony. Arnold Schoenberg summed it up in an eloquent fashion, stating that “he who wants to go beyond it must pass … Read more

A Ghostly Melody

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I’ve been thinking about the recent Gil Shaham recital (https://www.theclassicalgirl.com/?p=81), how I enjoyed it, and how we as the audience were all delighted when Shaham and his accompanist delivered us an encore. It was a lovely one, a rag-based melody. As is often the case when the musician calls it out, I wasn’t sure about … Read more

How to make (or not) a ballet bun

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It shouldn’t matter but it does. In my 40’s my hair thinned and split and didn’t regrow so plentifully. Vitamins, special shampoos and conditioners, special creams have yielded few changes. Genetics speaks louder, in the end. So. Each year the hair gets shorter, shorter, thinner. This last cut, I couldn’t even pretend to corral my … Read more

Beginner’s Remorse

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Congratulations, you’ve done it. Whether for the violin or for ballet or [insert name of creative endeavor you’ve been talking about doing for years now], you signed up for the class, maybe even paid for the first month. Yay! Congratulations! Except that now, the start-date looming closer, closer, maybe the prospect of showing up for … Read more