Musings on ballet, classical music, the violin, and life
The Classical GirlToday I bid farewell to the double digits, as 99 posts shifts over to 100. An exciting moment for me – I think I need to celebrate the occasion with cake and champagne. Care to join me? But before that, care to join me in a look back on the last 100 posts? In fact, … Read more
It was a night for music lovers, not just ballet lovers, last Saturday at the San Francisco Ballet. Beethoven’s Piano Trio no. 1, Saint Saens’ Symphony no. 2 (injected with the sublime 2nd movement from his Symphony no. 3) and Stravinsky’s iconic The Rite of Spring. We are so fortunate, we of the San Francisco … Read more
PLUS My father just celebrated his 88th birthday and my son and I flew out to Kansas City for the family gathering. Thirty of us sang “Happy Birthday” to him and consumed cake and ice cream, but the real highlight was when we sang “Ein Prosit” together. I suppose you could call singing this German … Read more
She showed up in London, an apprenticeship with the Royal Ballet secured after her win in the Prix de Lausanne. Bolshoi Ballet had said “no thanks” upon her graduation at their ultra-elite training school. Here in the West, she decided, she would build her career. Shockingly, though, her Royal Ballet contract wasn’t renewed the next year. The English … Read more
A revised version of this appeared at Violinist.com in 2008 As the story has it, when Hungarian-born 20th century composer Franz Schmidt received the news in 1932 that his beloved daughter and only child, Emma, had died in childbirth, it was just prior to his setting to work on his Symphony no. 4 in C … Read more