Musings on ballet, classical music, the violin, and life
If it’s not about classical music, ballet or the violin, you’ll find it here.
On June 12th, forty-nine people were killed in a gay night club in Orlando, with fifty-three more wounded, in a terrorist attack/hate crime that shook the world. Hours later, James Conlon, guest conducting Sunday afternoon at the San Francisco Symphony, took the mic at the start of the performance. He told us they would be dedicating the performance … Read more
Well, I am very excited right now about a very small (to you), writerly thing. I came up with a new first line for the opening chapter of my forthcoming ballet novel, Outside the Limelight. The old first line was sending the story in sorta the wrong direction, and it was using the wrong authorial … Read more
While my first choice for classical music on Easter will always be Handel’s Messiah, which I elaborated on HERE last year, there are a few other wondrous, utterly memorable pieces that conjure up the same rush of powerful spirituality, a sense of Easter Sunday grandeur. There’s the Gustav Holst choral piece I’ve sung in choirs, a gorgeous SATB arrangement of … Read more
Back in February 2013, I made a decision. If I was going to give this blogging thing a try, I needed to stick with it. I knew the facts: most blogs fail within six months, simply because it’s damned hard work to keep coming up with new, interesting, insightful things to say. It reminds me of that beer-in-a-shotglass game … Read more
I’ve gleaned a lot of wisdom over the past two years, most of it the hard-earned, head-shaking kind. During this time period, coincidentally [or not], I recommenced a daily mindfulness meditation practice. You wouldn’t think that sitting on a pillow at 4:45am for twenty minutes, doing nothing but observing the rise and fall of your … Read more