There is a new book about Oscar Heyman coming out that I am super excited to get my hands on. It hits shelves on April 25th, but you can order yours now on Amazon!

For the past 95 years, Oscar Heyman & Bros. has sat ... at the helm of jewelry royalty. ―Antiques & Fine Art Magazine (2007)
Since its founding in 1912, Oscar Heyman & Brothers has created fabulous jewels for some of the world’s elite houses, causing it to be known in the trade as “the jewelers’ jeweler.” The Heyman Brothers arrived in New York from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s, bringing with them their training in their uncle’s workshop. The company quickly established a name for itself in the industry, working with top houses such as Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Tiffany & Co., producing superbly constructed, beautifully designed pieces with the finest materials. The firm is still family run, and now retails merchandise under its own name, specializing in working with unique and colorful gemstones, cut and polished in their own workshop.
This lavishly illustrated history reveals “the jewelers’ jeweler” to the wider public, following the firm’s growth from its origin as a Russian immigrant family enterprise in New York City to its establishment as an important ally of major retailers throughout the global jewelry trade. Enhanced with dazzling photographs of new and vintage pieces, as well as brilliant, full-color design drawings from the firm’s archives that are works of art in their own right, Oscar Heyman: The Jewelers’ Jeweler reveals Oscar Heyman’s important role in the story of modern American jewelry.

A scene from Emeralds. (Photo Credit: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian)

Steven McRae and Melissa Hamilton in Rubies. (Photo Credit: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of George Balanchine’s ballet, Jewels. Created in 1967, the ballet does not have any characters or plot, yet it’s one of the most enduring and popular pieces in many ballet company repertoires.

Jewels uses three gem stones as starting points to explore an array of musical and dance styles, each intimately connected to Balanchine’s own life and career.

"George Balanchine’s glittering ballet Jewels was inspired by the beauty of the gem stones he saw in the New York store of jewellers Van Cleef & Arpels. He went on to make history with this, the first abstract three-act ballet, first performed in 1967 by New York City Ballet. Jewels was performed in full by The Royal Ballet for the first time in 2007, using costume designs from the original NYCB production and new set designs by Jean-Marc Puissant.

Marianela Nuñez and Thiago Soares in ‘Diamonds’ (Photo Credit Bill Cooper)

Each of the three movements draws on a different stone for its inspiration and a different composer for its sound. The French Romantic music of Fauré provides the impetus for the lyricism of ‘Emeralds’. The fire of ‘Rubies’ comes from Stravinsky and the jazz-age energy of New York. Grandeur and elegance complete the ballet in ‘Diamonds’, with the splendour of Imperial Russia and Tchaikovsky’s opulent Third Symphony. Each section salutes a different era in classical ballet’s history as well as a distinct period in Balanchine’s own life. Through it all, Balanchine displays his genius for combining music with visionary choreography."

Jewels runs 6–21 April 2017 with a live cinema showing on the 11th. For ticket information please visit the Royal Opera House website.