Featuring the

dancers of the

LakeCities Ballet

Friday, November 14, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.

At Lakeland Baptist Church, Lewisville  (Directions)

Adults $25

Seniors (60+) $20

Students $10

Families $60

(no matter how large the family)

Special student and faculty rate for UNT and SMU: $5

Narrated by James Crawford

Choreography by

Kelly Lannin

The City of Lewisville,

Season Sponsor

More on A Soldier's Tale | Igor Stravinsky | James Crawford (narrator) | LakeCities Ballet | Kelly Lanin (Choreographer)

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A Soldier's Tale

A soldier's Tale (L'histoire du soldat) is a 1918 theatrical work "to be read, played, and danced" set to music by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, based on a Russian folk tale, was written by the Swiss writer C.F. Ramuz.  The work was written for small ensemble to compensate for the lack of players due to World War I (since so many were enlisted in the armed services) and was premiered in Lausanne on 28 September 1918, conducted by Ernest Ansermet.

A soldier returning home from war is met by the Devil, who persuades him to trade his violin (his soul) for a book promising untold wealth. When Joseph finds unhappiness instead, he challenges the Devil to a game of cards. Joseph loses his wealth, but regains his violin. His playing cures a princess and he wins her hand in marriage. They don’t live happily ever after, however, because Joseph violates the Devil’s warning not to try to revisit his past. He tries to visit his mother in secret and, just over the border, is claimed by the Devil.

The story is told by three actors: the soldier, the devil, and a narrator, who also takes on the roles of minor characters. A dancer plays the non-speaking role of the princess, and there may also be additional ensemble dancers..

The music is scored for a septet of violin, double bass, clarinet, bassoon, cornet (often played on trumpet), trombone, and percussion.  It is in the modernist style and is rife with changing time signatures. For this reason, it is commonly performed with a conductor, though some ensembles have elected to perform the piece without one. Much of the music – especially the concerto-like violin part – is considered virtuosic.

Igor Stravinsky 

A Soldier's Tale

('L'histoire du soldat')

Dancers

Staci Cornell, Brianna Cullum, Sarah Johnson, Elizabeth Hooks, Karlee Kautz, Taylor Kopp. Lauren Schafer, Sally Schweitzer, Nicole Votolato

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
From Time Magazine's 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century

His Rite of Spring heralded the century. After that, he never stopped reinventing himself — or modern music
By PHILIP GLASS
Monday, June 8, 1998

Time cover July 26, 1948

Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, on May 29, 1913, was the setting of the most notorious event in the musical history of this century — the world premiere of The Rite of Spring. Trouble began with the playing of the first notes, in the ultrahigh register of the bassoon, as the renowned composer Camille Saint-Saens conspicuously walked out, complaining loudly of the misuse of the instrument. Soon other protests became so loud that the dancers could barely hear their cues. Fights broke out in the audience. Thus Modernism arrived in music, its calling card delivered by the 30-year-old Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. Born in 1882 in Oranienbaum, Russia, a city southwest of St. Petersburg, Stravinsky was rooted in the nationalistic school that drew inspiration from Russia's beautifully expressive folk music. His father was an opera singer who performed in Kiev and St. Petersburg, but his greatest musical influence was his teacher, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. The colorful, fantastic orchestration that Stravinsky brought to his folk song-inspired melodies was clearly derived from Rimsky-Korsakov. But the primitive, offbeat rhythmic drive he added was entirely his own. The result was a music never before heard in a theater or concert hall.

In 1910 Serge Diaghilev, then director of the world-famous Ballets Russes, invited Stravinsky to compose works for his company's upcoming season at the Paris Opera. The Firebird, the first to appear, was a sensation. Petrushka and The Rite of Spring quickly followed. Soon Stravinsky's audaciously innovative works confirmed his status as the leading composer of the day, a position he hardly relinquished until his death nearly 60 years later.

After leaving Russia, Stravinsky lived for a while in Switzerland and then moved to Paris. In 1939 he fled the war in Europe for the U.S., settling in Hollywood. In 1969 he moved to New York City. (The story goes that when asked why he made such a move at his advanced age, he replied, "To mutate faster.")

Over the years, Stravinsky experimented with virtually every technique of 20th century music: tonal, polytonal and 12-tone serialism. He reinvented and personalized each form while adapting the melodic styles of earlier eras to the new times. In the end, his own musical voice always prevailed.

In 1947 Stravinsky befriended Robert Craft, a 23-year-old conductor who was to become his chronicler, interpreter and, oddly, his mentor in some ways. It was Craft who persuaded Stravinsky to take a more sympathetic view of Arnold Schoenberg's 12-tone school, which led to Stravinsky's last great stylistic development.

In his long career, there was scarcely a musical form that Stravinsky did not turn his hand to. He regularly produced symphonies, concertos, oratorios and an almost bewildering variety of choral works. For me, however, Stravinsky was at his most sublime when he wrote for the theater. There were operas, including The Rake's Progress, composed for a libretto by W.H. Auden and one of a handful of 20th century operas that have found a secure place in the repertory. The ballets also continued; the last of his masterpieces, Agon (composed for another Russian choreographer, George Balanchine), came in 1957.

I heard him conduct only once, during a program in his honor in 1959 at New York City's Town Hall. What an event that was! Stravinsky led a performance of Les Noces, a vocal/theater work accompanied by four pianos — played by Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss and Roger Sessions. Each brought his own charisma to the event, but all seemed to be in awe of Stravinsky — as if he appeared before them with one foot on earth and the other planted firmly on Olympus.

He was electrifying for me too. He conducted with an energy and vividness that completely conveyed his every musical intention. Seeing him at that moment, embodying his work in demeanor and gestures, is one of my most treasured musical memories. Here was Stravinsky, a musical revolutionary whose own evolution never stopped. There is not a composer who lived during his time or is alive today who was not touched, and sometimes transformed, by his work.

Composer-performer Philip Glass has written many works of opera and musical theater

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James Crawford (narrator)

In 2007, James was named Best Actor by D Magazine, the Dallas Observer and the Dallas Voice for his performances as George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Water Tower Theatre) and as C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands (Contemporary Theatre of Dallas), he received the Leon Rabin Award and a Dallas/Fort Worth Critics Forum Award.

Since moving to Dallas ten years ago, James has appeared in a dozen productions at the Dallas Theater Center, including Pride & Prejudice, Joe Egg, The Real Thing, Twelfth Night, The Importance of Being Earnest, Our Town, The Night of the Iguana, A Christmas Carol, and the American premiere of Inexpressible Island.

In addition, James has performed at Theatre Three (Stones in his Pockets, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, As Bees in Honey Drown), Stage West (Angels in America, Man of the Moment), Fort Worth Shakespeare in the Park (Hamlet, The Tempest), the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas (Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor), Water Tower Theatre (Holiday Memories), Echo Theatre (Cloud Nine, Off the Map) and Theatre Britain (Betrayal).

James has worked with such nationally acclaimed directors as Des McAnuff, Tina Landau, Stan Wojewodski, and Robert Woodruff. He appeared Off-Broadway in En Garde Arts’ Obie-winning production of The Trojan Women, A Love Story, in The Great Brain at the Promenade Theatre, and in The Kafka Project at the Ohio Theatre.

 He has worked with New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theatreworks/USA and Circle Rep Lab. He has acted at such regional theatres as the La Jolla Playhouse (Elmer Gantry, and the premiere of Lee Blessing’s Fortinbras), and Triad Stage (Art and A Streetcar Named Desire).

James is a member of Actors’ Equity and AFTRA, and has appeared on television in All My Children, As the World Turns and One Life to Live. A graduate of Brown University, he received his MFA from the University of California at San Diego.

James currently teaches acting in the division of theatre at the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU, where he has directed productions of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest, and Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband.
 

LakeCities Ballet

LakeCities Ballet Theatre is one of North Texas' premiere ballet companies performing professional productions for the past 25 years. In addition to a lavish and highly respected The Nutcracker production utilizing the talents of the Lewisville Lake Symphony Orchestra along with New York Guest Artists,

LBT's repertoire includes performances of Le Ballet de Dracula in October, Peter and the Wolf in March, and a Spring Performance of a full-length ballet or a mixed program in April.

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LBT has been recognized in the Top 10 Dance Events in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex by The Dallas Morning News Dance Critic, Margaret Putnam for its The Nutcracker and Giselle productions. LBT has become an important facet in the performing arts community.

 

Kelly Lannin (Choreographer)

Kelly Lannin, director of the LakeCities Ballet, is a versatile and motivational teacher who enjoys teaching all ages and levels of Classical Ballet.  Originally from El Paso, Texas, Mrs. Lannin received her classical training at Ballet El Paso from director, Ingeborg Heuser, former ballerina of the Berlin Opera.

With a strong passion and love for dance, she continued her dance education at Texas Woman's University where she was the recipient of the Mary Agnes Murphy and the Anne Duggan Dance Scholarships. After graduating with her Bachelor's degree in dance in 1983, she began her teaching career in Lewisville. She continued to perform locally and was a charter member of LakeCities Ballet Theatre in 1984.

In 1989, Mrs. Lannin was appointed Artistic Director of LBT and now continues to guide the company with the highest standards of professionalism. Her choreography, both classical and contemporary has received many awards, and she has successfully directed and staged productions of The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Coppélia, Swan Lake - Act II, Pas de Quatre, The Little Humpbacked Horse, Cinderalla, Alice in Wonderland, The Little Match Girl, Peter and the Wolf, Stars and Stripes, The Steadfast Tin Solder, Carmina Burana, A Soldier's Tale, and more thus providing her students with a vast repertoire of performing experience.

The accomplishments of her students are proof of Mrs. Lannin's exceptional instruction and guidance, as her dancers are regularly accepted to the major dance institutions throughout the country. Her students have been accepted and or received scholarships to School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, National Ballet School of Canada, Joffrey Ballet, Houston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet's Rock School, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Juilliard, Harid Conservatory, Kirov Academy, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and others.

Mrs. Lannin is happily married to Ken Lannin, and they are the proud parents of a wonderful 13 year-old daughter, Kendall.