“Think globally, act locally” is a sound guideline for living, and I was recently reminded of just how interconnected we all are.  Our neighbor Giorgio came to dinner last weekend.  He is part of an interesting microcosm on our block that includes a Greek flute maker, an early music cellist/gamba player, a ship builder, and Giorgio, a carpenter from Italy who restores amazing antiques for private collections and museums.   Giorgio has spent a fair amount of time in our kitchen, often coaching my husband on the finer points of pasta making, so he’s familiar with our batterie de cuisine.  At dinner he pointed out a hand-painted ceramic trivet that had been given to me more than 10 years ago by the violinist Midori, when I worked for her arts education foundation in New York.  Giorgio declared that the trivet, which features a typical Tuscan scene with sunflowers, was painted by his sister in Italy.  OK, I said, sure.  “Turn it over,” he said. And there, in fact, was a label with his sister’s name, declaring that the trivet was produced and sold at her shop in Florence.  While not exactly earth shattering, I was nonetheless surprised by this discovery.

This past week I signed up for Linked-In, essentially a social networking site for grownups that is based on professional and educational affiliations.  I was contacted almost immediately by two women from my high school class.  I had not heard from them in more than 25 years, so I am old enough to find this instant reconnection to the past rather startling. Yet it also reminded me of how truly linked we are now, both locally and globally.

Our spring concerts on May 30 and 31 will feature collaborations with some important local and international artists.  The girls in Chorissima will reprise the work they did in San Francisco with ODC/dance earlier this spring.  They will also be accompanied by the hammered dulcimer player and world musician Malcolm Dalglish.  ODC/dance is a local company that tours internationally, and Indiana-based Malcolm Dalglish is well known in folk music circles around the world.  These collaborative concerts are a perfect prelude to the celebration of our 30^th anniversary next year, when we explore and celebrate SFGC’s maturity --  its local history as a wonderful music training program for girls, and its growing international reputation as the ultimate in music for young women’s voices.  Our concerts next season will include a variety of internationally known guest performers, whose collaboration with SFGC will help connect us all to the global community of the arts.