Musings on ballet, classical music, the violin, and life
There is this moment In Helgi Tomasson’s Nutcracker where the party host, Dr. Stahlbaum, connects two electrical cords and the Christmas tree in the family’s San Francisco living room lights up. Everyone oohs and aahs because in-house electricity was a new-fangled thing in 1915, the year in which the production is set. The irony is … Read more
Exciting news just announced by San Francisco Ballet: encore performance of Swan Lake with thrilling guest artists. Details below! I know some of you, my dear readers, are classical music fans but not ballet fans. Likewise, some among you are just as happy—maybe you even prefer—to see contemporary ballet works set to jazz, soul, even electronica. … Read more
I am using “entranced” as description for the second time in San Francisco Ballet’s digital 2021 season with the premiere of Danielle Rowe’s Wooden Dimes. As the second of two world premieres, as well as the second dance film of the season, it invites comparison to Myles Thatcher’s Colorforms. Both transported me. Entranced me. Wooden … Read more
Why the San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker Online production, you ask? Because of course you have other options to watch The Nutcracker online this year. Dozens upon dozens of options, from companies all around the world. So. Here, up front, are ten good reasons: Because the first full-length North American Nutcracker started right here Those 600 … 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