Musings on ballet, classical music, the violin, and life
The Classical Girl Many of us have been in a church or concert hall where an organ is being played, all those chords and majestic sonorities cleverly manipulated to create a sublime listening experience. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, while you’re visiting a grand cathedral, the organist might be practicing for a concert and you’re treated to a performance … Read more
The closing scene of the ballet, Swan Lake, carries a real-life poignancy that can be hard to capture in 19th-century story ballets. In the ghostly light of a full moon against a lake, lovers Siegfried and Odette clash with evil sorcerer Von Rothbart in a fight to the death, as Tchaikovsky’s dramatic music builds to … Read more
Arts-loving readers, mark your calendars: World Ballet Day 2022 is Wednesday, November 2nd! To celebrate, enjoy my ballet-centric novel, A Dancer’s Guide to Africa, for FREE, all week long! Click HERE. Also, check out the Ballet Theatre Chronicles, HERE. World Ballet Day has started, and HERE is the all-important link to watch the livestream! … Read more
So you’re acquainted with Antonin Dvořák’s buoyant, instantly accessible “New World Symphony,” are you? And you loved it? Yay, you are part of an enormous fan club that has a spectacularly broad base of listeners. So, what other compositions of Dvořák’s do you like? {{Silence}} Ah. I get it. I was there too, once. But … Read more
This week marked a few auspicious events for me and my favorite place on earth, Big Basin Redwoods State Park. First, the park’s recent reopening allowed me to visit and hike (on limited trails) for the first time in two years. Second, this week marks the two-year anniversary of the severe storm that produced mega … Read more