Amongst Deanna Blacher's many talents, her individual performances as a castanets virtuoso or her productions as a choreographer, are legend.

As the only acknowledged castanets virtuoso in Australia, and one of a handful of such artists worldwide, Ms. Blacher, who has been critically acclaimed internationally for her work in this area - i.e. in elevating the castanets to virtuoso solo status in the concert hall - continues to devote herself to expanding her repertoire of works for castanets and orchestra , and, through more recent concertising - both with recitals with piano and as a soloist with orchestra - to bring her work to as wide a public as possible. (Please refer to this same page below for a list of works).

She first developed the castanets as a solo instrument with American pianist Michael Isador in South Africa, and her first performance as a castanets soloist was with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, followed by innumerable appearances with other orchestras, amongst which, the Residencie Orchestra of The Hague, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (at the invitation of Zubin Mehta), the Israel Chamber Orchestra (a series of six concerts), the Israel Sinfonietta, the Wa Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmania Symphony Orchestra, and premieres of orchestral works especially written for her by composers from Spain (under the baton of Enrique Garcia Asensio), South Africa and England.

Besides these performances, Ms. Blacher performed in countless solo castanets recitals with pianists Alan Sternberg (America), Ya'ara Tal and Zmira Lutsky(Israel), Jean Roberts (America), and radio broadcasts in both South Africa and Israel. She also performed the complete Danzas Espanolas by Granados, in a version for castanets and piano which was a first for Australian music and dance lovers.

Deanna Blacher the Choreographer, on the other hand, has to her credit hundreds of works created for a vast gamut of styles, from the purely traditional Spanish idiom, to major orchestral works in both Spanish and non Spanish repertoire.

She has choreographed extensively for the Danza Viva Spanish Dance Company in numerous seasons in Perth and on tour throughout WA and Australia, for the State Opera of South Australia (Carmen) and for the Hong Kong International Festival of Dance Academies.

She is currently working on several new additions to her concert repertoire, among them, the Spanish Dances by Pablo Sarasate to be performed with violinist Paul Wright and pianist Neville Cohn in an innovative program entitled Fiddling with Castanets.

She is also working on the spanish ballet El Amor Brujo for Danza Viva's 21st Birthday production in February 2006.

Deanna Blacher remains available for:

GUEST TEACHING

WORKSHOPS

CHOREOGRAPHIES

CASTANETS RECITALS

El Albacin (from Iberia)
Sevilla
Aragon
Castilla
Puerta de Tierra (for strings)
Triana

Danza No. 1 (from La Vida Breve)
Farruca (from the Three cornered Hat)

Baroque Sonatas

Tic Toc Choc

House of Bernarda Alba - 1986 Tour of WA for the Department of the Arts.
- 1991 Octagon Season UWA for Ausdance National Conference with guest artist Veronica Vargas as the servant and Blacher as Bernarda Alba

Bolero - Ravel - 1987, 2000, 2001, 2002 by popular demand.
- 1988 at Hayman Theatre, Curtin University, and Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide, for the South Australian Opera Company.

Gigantes y Cabezudos - Luis Moreno, 1993 and 1997

Cuadro Flamenco - Maximiliano, 1987 and 1988