François Xavier Roth, with his award-winning historically-informed ensemble Les Siècles, kicks off his long-term artistic residence at Paris’s storied Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in grand style with a trio of legendary ballet scores by Stravinsky: The Firebird, Petrushka, and—fittingly, for the venue that saw its famously controversial premiere—The Rite of Spring!
The three ballets premiered over a remarkably prolific three-year period for Stravinsky between 1910 and 1913, and Roth will conduct their scores in chronological order while Les Siècles perform on early 20th-century French instruments: The Firebird, which earned Les Siècles the Disc of the Year prize from The Times; Petrushka, in its original version; and The Rite of Spring, lauded with a Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics’ Award). Among the twelve ballets Stravinsky composed, these three in particular made his international reputation. Alfred Bruneau, the day after The Firebird’s premiere, wrote, “Here we finally have an infinitely beautiful, completely new, and highly meaningful work.”
Photo © Mark Allen
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