sM | What does Stravinsky’s have in store for a new generation of performers and concertgoers?

MD — I was six years old when I first stumbled upon Mr. Stravinsky. I was staying with my aunt, who always put something on the T.V. to help lull me and my twin brother to sleep. I’m not sure if it was by fate or by accident that my only memory of this stay is when my aunt tucked us into bed and then put the movie Fantasia 2000 on the screen. Fantasia sets animated stories to life, accompanied by classical greats such as Beethoven’s 5th and Respighi’s Pines of Rome. Stravinsky’s Suite from his ballet The Firebird is the last short story in the movie. I was so enraptured by how this music felt different, almost three-dimensional; as if the fluttering of the flute and strings in the “Firebird Variation” of the Suite brought the cartoonized leaves, being stirred on the screen, directly into my lap.

Yes, I connected with the visual story being told, but it was the music that made me feel something. After this encounter, I decided I wanted to be a classical musician. It wasn’t until I started auditioning for schools, however, that I realized just how far back my love for Stravinsky’s music went. As a bassoonist, it’s utterly impossible to get through a single audition without encountering something by Stravinsky. Along with the technical difficulty of these excerpts, to achieve the correct emotion behind the music is the greatest struggle.