Meet Them Through the Music: PNB Music Director and Principal Conductor Emil de Cou’s Playlist
PNB Music Director Emil de Cou shares his love for Tchaikovsky and his personal playlist ahead of conducting The Sleeping Beauty’s iconic score.
Meet Them Through the Music: PNB Concertmaster and Solo Violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim’s Playlist
Meet PNB Concertmaster Michael Jinsoo Lim and explore the music that inspires him, from Corigliano to Stravinsky, ahead of PNB’s All Balanchine program.
Meet Them Through the Music: PNB Violinist Tom Dziekonski’s Playlist
PNB is the home of so many artists: dancers, costumers, musicians, and more. Today on the PNB Blog, we’re starting a new series where we highlight PNB Orchestra members through their musical taste. First up, founding PNB Orchestra member and violinist Tom Dziekonski! Keep scrolling to read more about Tom while listening to some of […]
Celebrating Founding PNB Orchestra Member Tad Margelli
Tad Margelli is an English Horn player, Oboist, and founding member of PNB’s Orchestra. At the end of the 2023/24 season, Tad will retire, marking an end to his remarkable tenure here at PNB. Join us in celebrating his career by learning more about him and his time at PNB on the blog! Mitch Miller. […]
Dan Williams, PNB’s Principal Oboist, on Swan Lake
Tchaikovsky’s first ballet score, Swan Lake, was commissioned in 1875. Tchaikovsky, who is widely considered to be the foremost ballet composer, utilized his keen orchestration skills in this ballet to create a score characterized by bold gestures and dramatic expressivity. The first notes of this enduring score are played by the oboe. The instrument features prominently throughout […]
Meet the “Cac-tet” of Alexander Ekman’s Cacti
Written by Emma Love Suddarth Emma danced with PNB from 2008-2021. Her writing appears in Pointe and Dance Magazine, as well as for PNB. A handful of small, poky, green cacti. 16 boxes, lying flat or intricately stacked. Light rails dropping to precariously low heights above the dancers. The overpowering sounds of dancers smacking boxes, slapping their chests, […]
Letters from PNB Artists: PNB Orchestra Member Evan Pengra Sult
The Pacific Northwest Ballet Future Fund ensures that the artists at PNB are able to dance, create, and bring you joy during these times of uncertainty and change. We ask that you consider a gift to the fund, which will help keep our dancers, musicians, staff, and production teams employed and insured. We could not do this […]
Letters from PNB Artists: PNB Orchestra Member Joyce Ramée
The Pacific Northwest Ballet Future Fund ensures that the artists at PNB are able to dance, create, and bring you joy during these times of uncertainty and change. We ask that you consider a gift to the fund, which will help keep our dancers, musicians, staff, and production teams employed and insured. We could not do this […]
One Thousand Pieces: Q&A with Music Librarian Mona Butler
Mona Butler has been a bassoonist in Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra since the orchestra was founded in 1989, and PNB’s Music Librarian since the position was created in 1996. Marketing Assistant Maris Antolin sat down with Mona in late February to talk about what a Music Librarian does, the years-long process of putting together the […]
A Brief Fling – Musical Mystery Solved!
By Emil de Cou, Music Director/Principal Conductor, PNB Orchestra On February 28, 1990 Twyla Tharp’s Scottish-themed ballet Brief Fling made its debut on the stage of the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. I was in the orchestra pit that night, conducting a performance of La Bayadere – Kingdom of the Shades. A colleague led the orchestra in a lively performance […]