Symphony paints musical portraits of Five Powerful Women

May 2, 2007

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 326-3136

Spokane Maestro Eckart Preu will lead the Spokane Symphony in an exciting program of musical portrayals of charismatic female figures on Friday, May 11, at 8:00 p.m. at the INB Performing Arts Center. The women in question range from the legendary Baba-Yaga, colorfully painted by grandiose musical talent Anatol Liadov, to Cinderella, as told by Sergei Prokofiev in his beautiful ballet.

Baba-Yaga is classic figure in Slavic mythology, embodying both the wise old woman and the dark lady, mistress of magic and the forest spirits. In Liadov's symphonic poem of 1905, Baba-Yaga summons her mortar, pestle and broomstick to fly off through the forest. Like many of compositions, Baba-Yaga illustrates Liadov's extraordinary skill in orchestral tone color, evoking wild images from Russian folklore.

In 1907, Florent Schmitt wrote La Tragedie de Salome, a ballet based on the Biblical story of Herod's step-daughter, Salome, who danced before King Herod and his guests at a banquet. Her performance so pleased the king, she was rewarded with anything she wanted. Her request was the head of John the Baptist. Later, Schmitt reworked the music to create a much shorter piece for full orchestra by the same name. His use of percussive chords and syncopation foreshadowed Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, and in fact, Stravinsky once commented that Schmitt's ballet had given him more joy than any work he'd heard in a long time.

Czech composer Bedrich Smetena wrote a series of six pieces entitled Ma Vlast (my country). The third piece, completed in 1875 after the composer was completely deaf, portrays Sarka, a legendary character from the Maidens' War which is said to have taken place in seventh century Bohemia. She is said to have tricked a group of enemy men into drinking mead laced with a sleeping potion, and then signals her fellow warriors to join her in slaughtering the men. Soon afterwards, Sarka and her army are captured and defeated.

Alban Berg was an Austrian composer who was a member of the Second Viennese School and a student of Schoenberg. Lulu Suite variations, based on Berg's last work, a opera that was missing much of the third act, tell the story of Lulu, an extraordinarily beautiful woman who uses her powers of attraction to pull her self out of the gutter in a series of tragic marriages and is finally murdered by Jack the Ripper.

Sergei Prokofiev Cinderella Suites, originally written as a ballet, was composed during WW II. This treatment of the classic tale, noted for its jubilant music, lush scenery and the comic double-roles played by the stepsisters, who clearly border on the insane here, is simply beautiful.

This concert is made possible due to the generosity of Peter and Cate Moye and Windermere Real Estate.

Tickets are $15, $23, $31, and $35, and are available at the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office at (509) 624-1200; tickets are also available, with service charges, through TicketsWest at 325-SEAT, 1-800-325-SEAT and at www.spokanesymphony.org.