Knoxville Ballet School has had a mainly quiet summer, but much has transpired behind the scenes. For starters, the school has acquired a circa-1950 Gulbransen piano serendipitously. It once belonged to my grandparents, but my late Uncle Stan (a lifelong professional musician, for many years at the Light Opera of Manhattan) implored me to take it shortly before his death. Sitting in [...]
A couple of seasons back Louisville Ballet gave its audiences a taste of choreographer Mark Godden in the guise of his version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (which he first created for Canada’s Royal Winnepeg Ballet), where Tamino—here a TV junkie in a smoking jacket—enters not from stage right or left, but is dropped from [...]
I love hosting guest artists at Knoxville Ballet School. I get a chance to cross my own threshold in civilian clothing, for a change, and watch young dancers respond to somebody else standing at the front of the room. This experience usually shakes me to my core, as I witness a fresh take on classical [...]
February 3rd marks Felix Mendelssohn’s bicentennial. Yesterday’s NY Times ran an interesting piece speculating on reasons this occasion has not inspired the usual torrent of new CD releases surrounding famous composers’ birthday celebrations; you can read it and see related articles here. Quiet birthday notwithstanding, I have seized upon this milestone to expose my [...]
As much as husband enjoys a robust political argument with friends over a cold beer, I eschew that kind of thing. The main reason is that political conflict—especially between friends—gives me a stomach ache. I already have plenty of conflict in my life, thank you very much. I disagree with many of [...]