Program
Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Stravinsky Petrushka
Respighi La Boutique Fantasque (after Rossini)
Ravel La valse
Artists, programs, and dates are subject to change.
In 1909, the Ballets Russes formed in Paris, championing in a groundbreaking era for artistic collaboration among choreographers, designers, dancers, and, of course, composers.
The program pays tribute to this influential moment in music history beginning with Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the afternoon of a fawn). Simultaneously gentle and revolutionary, from the first notes of its famous flute solo, it turned music on its head with its highly impressionistic form.
Providing musical juxtaposition to Debussy are two musical imaginings of inanimate objects brought to life: Stravinsky’s Petrushka, the story of a puppet who becomes real, and Respighi’s La boutique fantasque (The Enchanted Toyshop). Where Stravinsky plays with tonality and rhythm, creating dramatic and driving music, Rossini-Respighi provides a counterbalance of light-hearted, fanciful charm.
Rounding out the program is Ravel’s La valse, a colorful and sweeping tribute to the Viennese waltz, with an immense orchestration.
