Post-Classical Ensemble: Celebrating Don Quixote

With the support of Spain's Ministry of Culture, the Post-Classical Ensemble ("a welcome, edgy addition to the musical life of Washington" – The Washington Post) and New York's Puppetsweat Theater pay homage to Cervantes' immortal Don Quixote on the occasion of its 400th anniversary.

The centerpiece of this multimedia event is Manuel de Falla's rarely staged late masterpiece, Master Peter's Puppet Show, a sublime chamber opera for life-sized puppets that enacts a rambunctious scene from the novel. The program also includes Don Quixote readings, Ravel's classic Don Quixote songs, and Don Quixote music by Jacques Ibert.

(Part of the etcetera series.)

The concert also caps a Georgetown University Symposium on November 18 entitled "Don Quijote Then and Now: A Symposium in Honor of the 400th Anniversary of Don Quijote ."

Advance Praise:
November's Best Classical Concerts
By Tim Page
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Friday, October 28, 2005; 5:25 PM
The Post-Classical Ensemble has added a new and engaging dimension to our musical life in the years since it was founded -- all of its programs are of both musical and intellectual interest. On Nov. 19 at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, the group will present Manuel de Falla's "Master Peter's Puppet Show," a 30-minute opera performed by life-size puppets, as well as Ravel's "Don Quixote" songs and another song cycle based on Cervantes by Jacques Ibert.

NB: This performance is highly suitable for children.


Program:

CELEBRATING DON QUIXOTE
Master Peter's Puppet Show by Manuel de Falla
Don Quixote Songs by Maurice Ravel
Don Quixote Incidental Music by JJacques Ibert

Post-Classical Ensemble, performers
Angel Gil-Ordonez, conductor
with
Wesleyan University's Theater Department
and Puppetsweat Theater
Chris Pedro Trakas, baritone and reader
Awet Andemicael, soprano
Peter Burroughs, tenor

Tickets: $25 each
As of November 14, 2005, this show is sold out.



Saturday, November 19 @ 7:30 p.m.
Terrace Theater of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performaing Arts

Official website: www.post-classicalensemble.org

Listings:
Washington Post
Baltimore Sun
Diplomatic Traffic
WETA 90.9 FM
WGMS 103.5 FM
Washington Life Magazine
Vocal Arts Society

Press coverage:
Washington Post
Town Times

Previous performances:
Brooklyn Philharmonic (New York)

Notes:
Don Quixote in many ways embodies the Islam World's influence upon European civilization, as Cervantes himself captured in his book:

Estando yo un día en el Alcaná de Toledo, llegó un muchacho a vender unos cartapacios y papeles viejos a un sedero; y, como yo soy aficionado a leer, aunque sean los papeles rotos de las calles, llevado desta mi natural inclinación, tomé un cartapacio de los que el muchacho vendía, y vile con caracteres que conocí ser arábigos...... Cuando yo oí decir "Dulcinea del Toboso", quedé atónito y suspenso, porque luego se me representó que aquellos cartapacios contenían la historia de don Quijote...... (Parte I, Capitulo IX - Cervantes Project)

One day, as I was in the Alcana of Toledo, a boy came up to sell some pamphlets and old papers to a silk mercer, and, as I am fond of reading even the very scraps of paper in the streets, led by this natural bent of mine I took up one of the pamphlets the boy had for sale, and saw that it was in characters which I recognised as Arabic...... When I heard Dulcinea del Toboso named, I was struck with surprise and amazement, for it occurred to me at once that these pamphlets contained the history of Don Quixote...... (Part I, Chapter 9 - Gutenberg Project)

This relationship is deeply explored in Dr. Maria Rosa Menocal's book The Ornament of the World.

Thanks to: Spain's Ministry of Culture

Nov 19, 2005 (Saturday) 7:30 p.m. on the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater

** co-marketed by David Chambers