Events

The Petrouchka Project

Mythos/Melos: The Intertwining Threads of Music and Narrative

EVENT POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER: NEW DATE MAY 11, 2013

Join acclaimed faculty pianists Lois Shapiro and Randall Hodgkinson for a rare two-piano performance of Stravinsky's revolutionary ballets, Petroushka and The Firebird, plus new original works.

Stravinsky's ballet Petrouchka depicts the story of the life, love, and death of the puppet Petrouchka. Originally scored for orchestra, it was scored for four-hand piano by the composer himself. Recently the ballet has gained popularity, as avant-garde puppet troupe Basil Twist staged a revival at Lincoln Center in 2001.

The Petrouchka Project at Wellesley will both celebrate a classic of the canon as well as reinterpret it in the present day. Using Stravinsky's masterpiece as his inspiration, Wellesley faculty composer Martin Brody, Catherine Mills Davis Professor of Music, composed a musical response to Petrouchka called True Pete, also for four-hand piano.

A former artist-in-residence at the Whitney and principal clown with the Cirque du Soleil, performance artist Colin Gee will spend a week at Wellesley College working with students across a variety of departments, including Theatre Studies, Art, Music, and the Russian Area Studies Program. He is collaborating with Brody to develop a visual performance complementing his new musical score. The residency will culminate with a concert that pairs Stravinsky's Petrouchka with a world premiere by Martin Brody?performed by Colin Gee and award-winning pianists Randall Hodgkinson and Lois Shapiro.

Each work will involve the intimate marriage of music (Melos) with some extramusical narrative or theatrical element (Mythos).