Helene

I saw it in the cinema. Dumaux was a fabulous actor, and he even got me past my great dislike of countertenors. (My usual question when hearing one is, "Would I prefer to hear Marilyn Horne sing it?," and the answer is, invariably, "Yes.") I had heard him before at the Dallas Fair Grounds, where pre-Winspear Dallas heard opera through the worst acoustics I've ever heard. (A perfectly audible singer would move five feet to the right, and it was as if he or she was suddenly behind a tall, concrete wall.) He also was in his 20's in that Dallas performance of Unolfo in "Rodelinda," and his voice may have filled out more in the meantime. For people who hear him in the house, was his voice strong? (The miking for HD's distorts the relative volumes of the singers.) He looked like the love child of Kevin Kline in the "Pirates of Penzance" and Mariusz Kwiecien. Bardon I liked very much after her first aria, in which she sounded far off pitch to me. My favorite moment of hers was the duet with Sextus at the end of Act II: she and Alice Coote were so simpatico, voice- and interpretation-wise. My favorite singing was Coote's, apart from the opening aria, which was fine, but Joyce DiDonato recently got a much deeper performance from a Juilliard graduate student, Rachel Wilson, during her master class there earlier this year. (Sadly, it's the only segment of the master class that was un-published from the school's YouTube channel.) Bicket may have taken it at a faster clip. I love Coote's voice: it has brightness and underlying heft. For me Dessay's high point was the lament that ended Act II. Maybe the tessitura was low for her, because towards the end she spun some lovely high notes, but it sounded to me that there wasn't a floor to her voice for most of the fast coloratura singing. In the slower singing, where she has to show sorrow, depth, and maturity, she's amazing. She was a fantastic actress, and I thought she did a wonderful job with the dancing. I also loved Guido Loconsolo's Achillas. I kept wishing he was singing Giulio Cesare. I once heard Norman Treigle sing it on a bad vocal day for him, and it was 100 times preferable than hearing Daniels. Did I mention a great dislike of countertenors?

From the world of tweets and @JoyceDiDonato: Most horrifying thing about being in London: going to the gym and working out next to a ROH ballet dancer. #notpretty

"La Boheme" director Tomer Zvulun was just appointed Artistic Director of Atlanta Ballet, where he's directed several productions and is expected to direct two a year for the company. http://atlanta.broadwayworld.com/article/Atlanta-Opera-Appoints-Tomer-Zvulun-as-General-Artisic-Director-20130425 Congratulations to Atlanta Ballet and Zvulun He gave up medical school for opera, not the thing an Israeli mother usually wants to hear, but I hope she's proud.

"Hunkentenor" -- what a great description! I've noticed more and more of them sneaking into the Barihunks site.

The press release for the 2013-14 season was just published: SEATTLE, WA -- Artistic Director Peter Boal has announced the confirmed line-up for Pacific Northwest Ballet's 2013-2014 season. Highlights include a program devoted to the works of PNB's first artist-in-residence, Twyla Tharp, including a new work featuring an original score by New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint; the return of popular works by Jiri Kylian, Susan Stroman, Molissa Fenley, and Susan Marshall; a world premiere by Alejandro Cerrudo, Resident Choreographer at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago; a PNB premiere by Crystal Pite; and audience favorites The Sleeping Beauty and A Midsummer Night's Dream. The season closes with PNB's acclaimed staging of Giselle featuring new sets and costumes by Jerome Kaplan (Romeo et Juliette, Don Quixote) PNB opens its box office for ticket sales on Monday, July 15. As is its tradition, PNB is offering a special two-week money-saving deal: Pay no service fees on tickets purchased from July 15 thru 31. (Or, don't wait, and save even more by purchasing a season subscription now!) Subscriptions and single tickets may be purchased through the PNB Box Office, either by phone (206.441.2424), online (pnb.org) or in person at 301 Mercer Street. Discounted subscription rates are available for senior citizens and students with ID. All programming and dates are subject to change. For more information, visit pnb.org. 2012-2013 SEASON LINE-UP: Twyla Tharp Lecture-Demonstration Wednesday, September 25, 2013 (Not part of PNB's subscription season. Call the PNB Box Office for details.) A special presentation featuring PNB's artist-in-residence, Twyla Tharp. Rep 1 -- A.I.R. THARP September 27 -- October 6, 2013 Brief Fling (PNB Premiere) Music: Michel Colombier and Percy Grainger Choreography: Twyla Tharp Original Costume Design: Isaac Mizrahi Original Lighting Design: Jennifer Tipton World Premiere Music: Allen Toussaint Choreography: Twyla Tharp Costume Design: Santo Loquasto Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls Nine Sinatra Songs Music: Songs sung by Frank Sinatra Choreography: Twyla Tharp Original Scenic Design: Santo Loquasto Original Costume Design: Oscar de la Renta Original Lighting Design: Jennifer Tipton Rep 2 -- KYLIAN + PITE November 8 -- 17, 2013 Petite Mort Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Choreography: Jiri Kylian Scenic Design: Jiri Kylian Costume Design: Joke Visser Lighting Design: Joop Caboort Sechs Tanze (Six Dances) Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Choreography: Jiri Kylian Scenic and Costume Design: Jiri Kylian Lighting Design: Joop Caboort Forgotten Land (PNB Premiere) Music: Benjamin Britten Choreography: Jiri Kylian Lighting Design: Joop Caboort Lighting Re-Design: Kees Tjebbes Emergence (PNB Premiere) Music: Owen Belton Choreography: Crystal Pite Original Costume Design: Linda Chow Original Scenic Design: Jay Gower Taylor Lighting Design: Alan Brodie Stowell & Sendak NUTCRACKER November 30 - December 29, 2013 (Not part of PNB's subscription season. Call the PNB Box Office for details.) Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography: Kent Stowell Scenic & Costume Design: Maurice Sendak Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli Rep 3 -- THE SLEEPING BEAUTY January 31 - February 9, 2014 Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography: Ronald Hynd (after Marius Petipa) Scenic and Costume Design: Peter Docherty Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli Rep 4 -- DIRECTOR'S CHOICE March 14 -- 23, 2014 TAKE FIVE...More or Less Music: Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond Choreography: Susan Stroman Costume Design: William Ivey Long Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli Kiss Music: Arvo Part Choreography: Susan Marshall Original Lighting Design: Mitchell Bogard Lighting Design: Peter Bracilano Original Harnesses and Rigging Design: John Redman State of Darkness Music: Igor Stravinsky Choreography: Molissa Fenley Staging: Peter Boal Lighting Design: David Moodey World Premiere Choreography: Alejandro Cerrudo Costume Design: Mark Zappone Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli The world premiere of Alejandro Cerrudo's new work was created with the support of a Rudolf Nureyev Prize for New Dance, awarded by The Joyce Theatre with major funding from the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation. PINOCCHIO March 16 -- 22, 2014 (Part of PNB's Family Matinees subscription package. Call the PNB Box Office for details.) Music: Nicola Piovani and Amilcare Ponchielli Choreography: Bruce Wells Scenic Design: Edith Whitsett Costume Design: Pacific Northwest Ballet Costume Shop Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli This narrated, hour-long performance is danced by students of Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and is the perfect opportunity to introduce young children to the magic of live performance. Rep 5 -- A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM April 11 -- 19, 2014 Music: Felix Mendelssohn Choreography: George Balanchine [copyright] The George Balanchine Trust Staging: Francia Russell Scenic and Costume Design: Martin Pakledinaz Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli REP 6 -- GISELLE May 30 -- June 8, 2014 Libretto: Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Theophile Gautier Music: Adolphe Adam, with additional music by Friedrich Burgmuller, Ludwig Minkus, and Cesare Pugni Choreography: Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, and Marius Petipa Staging: Peter Boal Choreography Reconstruction: Doug Fullington Historical Advisor: Marian Smith Scenic and Costume Design: Jerome Kaplan Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli SEASON ENCORE PERFORMANCE Sunday, June 8, 2014 (Not part of PNB's subscription season. Tickets to this event go on sale in 2014.) NEXT STEP Friday, June 13, 2014 (Not part of PNB's subscription season. Tickets to this event go on sale in 2014.) 33rd Annual PNB School Performance Saturday, June 14, 2014 (Not part of PNB's subscription season. Tickets to this event go on sale in 2014.) PNB ON TOUR (Tickets not available through the PNB Box Office.) July 28 - 30, 2013 Vail International Dance Festival (July 25 - 31, 2013) Vail, CO February 23 -- 24, 2014 Works & Process -- Guggenheim Museum New York, NY

Here's the Marilyn Horne segment:

I want a pony. On the other hand, if things become even more ugly at the Boshoi...

Baritone Andrew Garland tweeted that mezzo Isabel Leonard appearance on "Sesame Street" in a "People in Our Neighborhood" segment was posted to YouTube today. (Sadly, no subtitles in English and Spanish.) We've had links to ballet dancers' appearances in the ballet forums, but this thread is for appearances by other performing artists. One of my all-time favorites is this classic Samuel Ramey appearance:

I know people, especially adolescents, don't believe how sick they are if they want to hang with their friends and do what they do, but for me, a robust Giselle reflects why she and most of the villagers usually consider Berthe an overprotective fussbudgit, until, of course Giselle dies and "I told you so" is of no comfort. Dramatically, I find the sweet, passive Giselles dull.

I've been hearing a lot about this lately. I need to track it down.

Just a note that before the Sons and Daughters took over companies, there were the Aunts, like Boston Ballet's Virginia Williams, to whom Balanchine generously loaned ballets for their fledgling companies to perform. I'm pretty sure Lopez was one of the bumper crop of SAB graduates from the early-mid-70's, like Saland, Calegari, and Nichols, and she was already a soloist when I first saw her during Balanchine's last years. (She became a Principal Dancer the year after Balanchine died.) She performed in the "Dance in America" episodes in the mid-late '70's; I know she was at least one of the women in "Melancholic" in "The Four Temperaments," and I think in "Chaconne," too. In the early '80's, the Soloists ruled the Saturday matinee casts, and I got to see all of them growing in roles before they were promoted. She was interviewed for the 1993 Balanchine Celebration that was released on video and then on DVD. She recalled telling Balanchine that there was something missing, and that there was something she didn't understand (about dancing). She said he told her that he knew she would eventually get it, and described his metaphor that dancers were like flowers: some bloomed early, some late, some died soon, some lasted a long time, etc. To have had that conversation and to be cast for TV and in roles that would lead to a promotion, she would have had to have been on his radar before he became disoriented and ill.

Now I understand.

The "gobs of money" motivation doesn't seem obvious to me. He could make a lot more by not having a long-term contract with ABT and not having to be based in one of the most expensive cities in the world, where being given prime real estate is not part of the deal. Ratmansky reminds me much more of Jerome Robbins, with an anchor to one company, in Ratmansky's case ABT, but with enough freedom to take on projects elsewhere. Ratmansky's projects are ballet-focused, unlike all of Robbins', but he gets to work with great artists and decide whether he likes the conditions and the atmosphere before doing more work with them. He gets to experiment and then to cherry pick. I think, though, if both sides wanted to work it out, the appointment could have been delayed for a couple of years so that Ratmansky could have fulfilled his commitments and cleared his calendar.

Sergei Grinkov had congenital heart disease and won two Olympic gold medals and had a flourishing professional career despite it until his heart gave out at the rink one day. Appearances can be deceiving.

Ballet companies have been posting photos on Facebook for Earth Day. These are the ones I've seen so far: Ballet Arizona San Francisco Ballet Joffrey Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet Please add others you find.

At Pacific Northwest Ballets, three of the recent Odette/Odiles were cast as Giselle. The other two, Maria Chapman and Carrie Imler, were cast as Myrtha in PNB's first production of "Giselle."

The first annual Kansas City Dance Festival will take place at the Spencer Theater, University of Missouri at Kansas City, on 28-29 June at 7:30pm. There will be classical ballet and contemporary dance performed by dancers from: Kansas City Ballet Cincinnati Ballet Nashville Ballet Joffrey Ballet Owen/Cox Dance Group In addition, there will be a party for the festival on 8 May from 6-8pm at the Ambassador Hotel in Kansas City (cash bar).

That would be just terrible. It's "Cinderella." If "Turandot" can play at AT&T Ballpark...

Did Farrell ever dance "Giselle" or any of the classical full-lengths for Paul Mejia's companies?

Joffrey Ballet posted an Earth Day tribute photo to its Facebook page, and it's of Kara Zimmerman and Mauro Villanueva in Wheeldon's "After the Rain."

Maria Kochetkova just tweeted a link to the Dutch National Ballet site Cinema page, which lists the places and dates that Christopher Wheeldon's "Cinderella," a co-production between HNB and San Francisco Ballet, will be shown in cinemas from the end of April through June. UK, May 2 and 5: Bluewater, Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Dudley, Elgin, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Nottingham, Paisley, Peterborough, Teesside, Walsall, UK, May 2: Ystradgynlais UK, May 30: Street Australia, May 11-12: Bondi, Canberra, Castle Hill, Chermside, Cronulla, Indooroopilly, Innaloo, Macquarie, Marion, Maroochydore, Newcastle, Pacific Fair. Hungary, April 28: Budapest Netherlands, June 16: Breda.