Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale

Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale is a compact piece, deliberately so. The work was written when Stravinsky was marooned in Switzerland during World War One and uses just seven instrumentalists and three actors, plus dancers to tell the story. It was conceived by Stravinsky and the Swiss writer CF Ramuz, based on a Russian folk-tale and was premiered in Lausanne in 1918 with Ernest Ansermet conducting. As part of the International Youth Arts Festival in Kingston-upon-Thames, the Constella Ballet and Orchestra mounted a production of the Soldier's Tale at the Rose Theatre on 15 July 2013 with choreography by Jaered Glavin.

The Constella Orchestra was founded by conductor/composer Leo Geyer and clarinettist Henry Clay as a student run ensemble featuring players from many of the UK universities and conservatoires. Since their founding in 2011 their impressive programme has encompassed Beethoven's Violin Concerto with Simon Standage, Stravinsky's Pulcinella and Clay's own opera The Mermaid of Zennor.

This new venture, a fully staged version of the Soldier's Tale was choreographed by Jaered Glavin who studied with the Royal Ballet School and danced with the Royal New Zealand Ballet from 2008 to 2012. Glavin's production used a black stage with just a table and chair stage left and the instrumental ensemble stage right. The narrator was Saul Boyer, a young actor, writer and director who is currently studying at Cambridge. He was placed standing next to the ensemble and was the only one of the actors to be amplified.