From left, Kiefer Erdmann, Skip Leeds, Brendan Sheehan and Melissa Heston act out the story of Eddie Slovik, an American soldier executed for desertion in World War II. (Photo by Megan Bachman)
Free Soldier’s Tale Performance at Antioch
- Published: April 22, 2011
A contemporary music, theater and dance performance of Igor Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale score with a libretto by Kurt Vonnegut will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 23, in South Gym at Antioch College.
The free performance features an ensemble from Columbus Symphony Orchestra collaborating with the director and choreographer team of Rani Deighe Crowe and Melissa Heston and their company of local dancers and actors. The event is sponsored by the Johnstone Fund for New Music.
Based on a Russian folk tale, the Soldier’s Tale follows a deserting soldier who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for a book that predicts the future. The virtuosic score that Stravinsky composed for The Soldier’s Tale in 1918 has been re-conceptualized many times. In 1993, novelist Kurt Vonnegut revamped the story to explore the life of Eddie Slovik, the only American soldier executed for desertion in World War II and the first since the Civil War.
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GO, go! I have played this music and it’s incredible; with Vonnegut’s libretto, it must be fantastic! I can’t go due to an emergency trip out of town, but DON’T MISS!