Music is as much a part of a ballet production as the incredible choreography and Lee County Community Orchestra’s upcoming performances of “Ballet Masterworks” feature some of the most beautiful musical backdrops ever composed for the genre.
Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is one of the most popular ballets in the classical cannon.
Like last season’s “Sounds of the Silver Screen” concerts, each piece of music in this program has its own story to tell. The challenge for Music Director Vincent Povázsay was choosing music that could complement or contrast and come together as a whole. “There are many specific and organized movements in a ballet because it’s common for the performance to stop and start between dance scenes and set changes,” said Povázsay. “The way the music is composed makes it easier to find exactly the kind of music you’re looking for in terms of mood or pace.”
Povázsay says all the music in the program is tuneful and melodic and mostly, high energy. Audiences will enjoy wonderful solos from the oboe and clarinet, colorful percussion, gorgeous, grandiose strings, and every piece will feature harpist Joe Hanna.
Highlights include the heartfelt and emotional pas de deux of Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from Spartacus (a pas de deux is a dance for two people, typically characters in love with one another) and the famous, dramatic finale from Swan Lake.
"Ballet Masterworks" is a program Povázsay has been looking forward to all season. He grew up loving ballet music, but his exposure was largely limited to recordings and YouTube videos. He saw his first major professional ballet production with a live symphony on a trip to New York when he was 19. “I will always remember that performance of Swan Lake!”