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Fingers

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    Pianist
  • City**
    New York
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    United States
  1. I have had the enviable honor of working as a pianist at NYCB for the past 27 years. I have witnessed extraordinary performances in my early years from the pianists Gordon Boelzner and Jerry Zimmerman, and violin performances in recent years from our 2 extraordinary concertmasters Kurt Nikkanen and Arturo Delmoni. This in addition to orchestral performances on the highest level with our current Music Director, Faycal Karoui. The collaboration between musician and dancer is extensive, intense, and subtle, as anyone who knows the history of Balanchine's company would fully expect. And yet, my question is, does anyone really care, or does it really matter? Dancers and musicians often don't know the subtleties of each other's art, a woeful situation, and this can lead to a lack of appreciation and easy denigration of each other's minor failings. The decision of dance critics to exclude any mention of the solo musicians involved in performances (I cite a recent show with 2 soloists and an onstage pianist, none of whom was mentioned in the review in the Times) is an additional insult to the music side of the production. And as audience members, I ask you, does this matter to you? Is the quality of music-making an integral part of your enjoyment of NYCB performances, or are you so absorbed in the dance that the music becomes strictly a background feature and not particularly important?
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