2010-2011 Season

Stravinsky - The Rake's Progress

Saturday, April 16, 2011at 7:30 pm

Pre-concert lecture/discussion at 6:30 pm

"So much of the music we perform at Emmanuel is 18th century and The Rake’s Progress is styled on 18th century ideals and forms. This morality play of materialism and madness is laced with spiky rhythms, pungent Stravinsky harmonies, unexpected lyricism and charming comedic turns.” - Ryan Turner, Artistic Director

In 1951, Igor Stravinsky announced the culmination of Neoclassicism with the completion of his opera, The Rake’s Progress. The opera is written in the style of Mozart to a libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman and based on the eight paintings and engravings of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen in a Chicago exhibition in 1947.

The story concerns the decline and fall of Tom Rakewell, who deserts Anne Trulove for the delights of London in the company of Nick Shadow, who turns out to be the Devil. After several misadventures, all initiated by the devious Shadow, Tom ends up in a psychiatric hospital south of London. The moral of the tale is: "For idle hearts and hands and minds the Devil finds work to do."
The evening will feature the Orchestra Emmanuel Music with The Spectrum Singers under the direction of Ryan Turner, and soloists:

• Tom Rakewell - Charles Blandy
• Anne Trulove - Kristen Watson
• Nick Shadow - David Kravitz
• Baba the Turk - Mary Westbrook-Geha
• Sellem - Frank Kelley
• Trulove - Paul Guttry
• Mother Goose - Deborah Rentz-Moore
• Keeper of the Madhouse - Donald Wilkinson

The Orchestra of Emmanuel Music with
The Spectrum Singers

Ryan Turner, conductor

Special Offers:

• Taj Pre-Concert Dinner - More info ...

• Special Incentives for Patron Ticket Buyers - More info ...