NATCHITOCHES – The NSU Faculty Chamber Players will perform Stravinsky’s “Histoire du Soldat” on Sunday, Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. University COVID protocols will be in effect. Those attending are asked to wear a mask. A livestream of the concert will be available at capa.nsula.edu/livestream.
Those performing are NSU faculty Malena McLaren on clarinet, Douglas Bakenhus on bassoon, Galindo Rodriguez on cornet, J. Mark Thompson on trombone, Oliver Molina on percussion, Andrej Kurti on violin and graduate student Karla Gonzalez on double bass.
The score was composed in 1918. Thompson said this unusual ensemble was both very portable/practical for its original purpose of war-time entertainment and allowed for the jazz/classical mix that the piece required. According to Thompson, NSU faculty perform this piece about once a decade.
“Histoire du Soldat” was conceived by Stravinsky and Swiss writer C. F. Ramuz. The piece was based on a Russian folk tale drawn from the collection of Alexander Afanasyev called “The Runaway Soldier and the Devil.”
Dan McDonald is the conductor. The readers that help tell the story are Dylan Fuselier as the soldier, Pia Wyatt as the devil and Scott Burrell as the narrator.
