In her own words, Eugenia Coe (BM ’22) discusses what’s she’s most proud of

I have a history of expecting failure. In high school, I believed I wasn’t talented enough to make it into a top school. But it turned out that I underestimated myself—I was accepted into four out of the six schools that I applied to. SFCM was my top choice, and when I was accepted, it was the happiest moment of my life.

The ballet that I produced two years ago is what I’m most proud of so far in my career. My whole life I've loved ballet. I used to want to join a ballet orchestra—that was my big dream. In my sophomore year, I had the idea to produce a ballet and combine my love of clarinet and dance. I never believed I could put it together, but I was determined to try. There were so many moments where I thought, “Should I just call it quits? This doesn’t seem possible.” With the support of the Conservatory through a grant from the PDEC department, I felt that quitting was never an option.

I reached out to Andrew Mciver, a student composer at SFCM, and he was very interested in the project. I wanted the dancers to have a dialogue through the instruments. Andrew was really into that idea as well. The ballet itself is a love story and tells the tale of Pygmalion and Galatea. Pygmalion is a sculptor and creates the perfect woman—only to fall in love with the statue. One of the gods notices and makes the statue come to life. It ends with a nice happily ever after.

When the performance finally happened, I didn't think there would be an audience. But I was wrong—there were so many supporters there. If I was an emotional person, I totally would have cried. It was a huge success.

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Watch the full performance of Pygmalion and Galatea: