NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

3/06/2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-NSU Faculty Chamber Players will perform works by Stravinsky and Luciano Berio Monday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. The recital is sponsored by the Mrs. H.D. Dear Sr. and Alice Estelle Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts. Admission is free and open to the public.

The program includes "Folk Songs" by Berio along with Stravinsky's "L'histoire du soldat" (The Soldier's Tale).

Charles Demuynck is the conductor. The works by Berio will feature mezzo-soprano Kyle Engler, an instructor at McDaniel College, Columbia Union College and The Pennsylvania Academy of Music. Also performing on "Folk Songs" are Northwestern faculty members Dennette McDermott on flute and piccolo, Jack Bradley on clarinet, Kenneth Green on percussion, Jeanne Phelan on viola and Richard Rose on violoncello. They will be joined by NSU students Melissa Ezarik of Farmington, Mo., on percussion and Susan Lenard of Pineville on harp.

"L'histoire du soldat" will feature three theatre faculty as readers, Jack Wann as The Narrator, Scott Burrell as The Soldier and Vicki Parish as The Devil. Also performing will be NSU faculty Bruce Bullock on clarinet, Galindo Rodriguez on trumpet, J. Mark Thompson on trombone and Daniel Santelices on violin. They will be joined by David Gibson of the University of Louisiana at Monroe on bassoon and Shreveport Symphony Orchestra members Chandler Teague on percussion and Peter Haas on double bass.

"This is a rare opportunity for our resident faculty artists to perform works of this caliber," said Thompson, who is organizing the recital. "These works are incredibly difficult to put together. They each require virtuoso artists. Performing them is a labor of love. It has really energized each of us."

Thompson said "The Soldier's Tale" is not as "far out" as Stravinsky's "Rites of Spring" and is "a bit calmer."

"It was written just after World War I and Stravinsky wanted to create a small dramatic work with minimal forces for maximum effect," said Thompson. "It uses a small orchestra of seven players in such a way for maximum sound effects with a minimum number of instruments."

"The Soldier's Tale" is based on a series of folk stories in which a deserter is enticed by the devil who takes possession of his soul. The soldier is enticed to leave his past life for one of wealth and pleasure. He eventually wins and marries a princess who he heals of a serious illness by playing his fiddle. When she convinces him to remember and return to his past life, the devil seizes the soldier and drags him away.

"Folk Songs" was written in the early 1960's and includes songs from the United States, Armenia, France, Sicily, Italy, Sardinia and Azerbaijan.

"It is a very interesting collection from different regions," said Thompson. "Each song tells a different story. You can see the emotion and the mood he tried to invoke."

Main Menu