Ballet music shows BPO musicians are really on their toes

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

The memory is as vivid today as when I was 13. It was my first visit to New York City. I was impressed by the Empire State Building, awed by the Statue of Liberty, excited about the hustle and bustle of Times Square. But topping all that — we scored tickets to see Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn dance Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.” As a budding violinist and beginning ballet student, I was enthralled.

As well I should have been. First by Diaghilev for his ballet company, and later by Sir Kenneth MacMillan of the Royal Opera House for Nureyev and Fonteyn and then by Nureyev himself, it must have been easy for the choreographers to create a ballet to Prokofiev’s music. It’s a bon-bon of a score, one of the most beautiful of the 20th century, and the Binghamton Philharmonic, as part of the opening concert of its 2010-11 season, absolutely aced it.