RIP Yolanda Sonnabend....

[Sim]

....costume and set designer extraordinaire. She designed the RB Swan Lake that has just been put to sleep. May her sleep be in peace.

[alison]

She designed the RB Bayadere too, didn't she?  Rather more to my taste.

 

Another major name in ballet design leaves us

[Jan McNulty]

RIP. Another great loss to the ballet world. Sincere condolences to her family and friends.

[stucha]

She designed the costumes for RB Bayadere The sets are designed by Pier Luigi Samaritani

[Geoff]

Oh dear, I owe Yolanda a great deal. A thousand years ago, when I was just starting out in the creative world, she tutored me for a while. I will never forget her generous inspiration and guidance - and the visual overload of her home. RIP

[Vanartus]

Great loss. So many Macmillan ballets...

[alison]

So many, indeed, as Ismene Brown reflects in a combined obituary and reproduced interview: http://www.theartsdesk.com/dance/yolanda-sonnabend-designer-macmillans-neurotic-ballets

Thanks very much to the Links team for this one!

[Ann Williams]

I'm confused - I thought Yolande Sonnabend had died some years ago,  Certainly a very highly-regarded female theatre designer had died, and I think she too had designed some of MacMillan's ballets.  The only thing I can remember from the various obituaries at the time was that she had apparently died 'at a time of great personal happiness in her life', which struck me as very sad.  Can anyone remember who this other designer was, or am  simply going a bit ga-ga ('twouldn't surprise me,,,).?

[Irmgard]

I'm confused - I thought Yolande Sonnabend had died some years ago,  Certainly a very highly-regarded female theatre designer had died, and I think she too had designed some of MacMillan's ballets.  The only thing I can remember from the various obituaries at the time was that she had apparently died 'at a time of great personal happiness in her life', which struck me as very sad.  Can anyone remember who this other designer was, or am  simply going a bit ga-ga ('twouldn't surprise me,,,).?

Are you perhaps thinking of Maria Bjornson who designed the 'off-kilter' "Sleeping Beauty" for the Royal Ballet and died aged 53 in 2002?

[Ann Williams]

Yes, Irmgard, I think I must be thinking 0f Maria Bjornson - how silly of me.  Did you also privately email me with this clarification?  I received an emai confirming this information late last night with a name I didn't recognise - if that was from you, thank you doubly!

 

I'd  like to add that Yolanda Sonnabend's death deprives us of an extraordinarily gifted designer - my favourite design in all theatre - drama, opera, musicals and ballet - is Sonnabend's designs for 'Bayadere'.  Once the curtain goes up on her imaginary old India, I'm lost in a  dreamworld of  exotica and almost resent waking up in the here and now.  Perhaps that's  what great design is all about.