Storytellers: Preserving Traditions

Featuring mezzo-soprano Jennifer Luiken, Carolina Master Chorale & Coastal Carolina University Concert Choir

Music often takes on a narrative role, telling stories that illuminate, and help preserve, traditions.  Composer Manuel de Falla recounts a classic Spanish tale through the music for his ballet, The Three-Cornered Hat (Suite No. 1).  Alexander Pushkin’s allegorical poems about romantic love inspired Igor Stravinsky to create a musical setting of The Faun and Shepherdess, while contemporary composer Meira Warshauer explores spiritual Ahavah (Love) and the dialogue of humanity’s relationship with nature from the perspective of Jewish teachings.  Jennifer Higdon, one of the most prominent new composers on today’s scene, captures the intense dramatic conflict of Charles Frazier’s novel in the Suitefrom her operatic setting of Cold Mountain.  Richard Wagner’s picturesque interlude Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, taken from the composer’s great Ring Cycle of operas based on Nordic legend, colorfully describes the hero’s travels.