DRANEY THEATRE, MARIST COLLEGE ASHGOVE
Sunday, 12 August 2018 | 3pm
Access via bridge off Glenlyon Drive, Ashgrove (map)

Ticket prices: Adult $35 / Concession $30 / Child $10 / Infant FREE

Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet

Prokofiev in his Romeo and Juliet Ballet Suite No 2 perfectly captures the characters and scenes of Shakespeare's tragedy – from Juliet's playful innocence to the menacing conflict between the Montagues and the Capulets. The Suite is one of two that Prokofiev drew from the full score of the ballet, originally rejected as “undanceable” and heavily criticised by Soviet cultural officials but which has since become one of the most loved ballet scores of all time.

Aram Il'yich Khachaturian : Spartacus

Khatchaturian's ballet, Spartacus, follows (not entirely historically accurately!) the story of the leader of a slave revolt against the Romans. The music alternates tender lyricism and dynamic energy in Khatchaturian's characteristic folk inspired music. Khatchaturian's ballet, written a year after Stalin's death, received the approval of the Soviet cultural authorities, who saw in it an allegory of the Russian people throwing off the oppression of the Tsars.

Alexander Borodin: Symphony No.2

It is hard to imagine that someone so famous as Borodin, the illegitimate son of a Georgian nobleman, was born a serf. However, his father provided well for his son (and freed him at the age of 7) and Borodin grew up to become not only a doctor and notable chemist but also one of Russia's most significant composers, one of the “Mighty Handful” of Russian composers. His Symphony No 2 is a work of great expressive power and lyricism and deservedly known as one of his most important works.