The Soldier's Tale premiered on September 28, 1918, in Lausanne, conducted

by Ansermet, founder of the Geneva-based Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

When the deadly “Spanish Flu” pandemic of 1918-1919 swept through Switzerland, the hoped-for tour never happened. Musicians, actors, and stagehands all

succumbed to the flu, and the Swiss government ordered the closing of every public

performance venue.

In 1920, Diaghilev considered mounting the work as a proper ballet with designs 

by Picasso. This came to naught, but gradually the work’s reputation spread and

eventually it gained status as a curious masterpiece, performed throughout the world.

The Soldier's Tale, originally to be staged as a drama with three actors, a dancer, 

and seven instrumentalists, is a dark, Faustian story about a soldier who sells his

violin to the Devil in exchange for future wealth and knowledge. The soldier later

becomes disillusioned, gets the Devil drunk, beats him in a card game, and repossesses 

his violin. In the meantime, the soldier falls in love with an ailing princess. He cures

her of her illness by playing dances for her—a tango, a waltz, and a ragtime. Later

they marry and all goes well until the soldier decides to leave his newly adopted town

and return to his hometown. As soon as he enters the land where he first encountered

the Devil, the Devil again accosts him, retakes the violin, and leads the soldier away.

For today’s performance, Robert Baker, in addition to being our narrator, will

take on the roles of the soldier and the Devil.

Program notes by Dennis Ferry

Admission to the National Gallery ofArt

and all of its programs is free of charge,

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the performance is not

allowed. Please he sure that all portable 

electronic devices are turned off.

The department of music produced

these program notes. Copyright © 2017

Board ofTrustees, National Gallery of

Art, Washington

Concerts are made possible in part

through the generosity of donors to

the National Gallery ofArt through

The Circle. Reserved seating is available

in recognition oftheir support. Please

contact the development office at

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more information.

Cover Cornelis Ploos van Amstel after

Hendrick Avercamp, The Winter King on

the Ice (detail), 1766, National Gallery of

Art, Gift of Sherwood B. Smith,Jr.

nga.gov/music

76TH SEASON OF CONCERTS

DECEMBER 10, 2017 / NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

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Program

The Swiss-American Musical Society

Christophe Sturzenegger, conductor

Robert Baker, narrator

Zino Bogachek, violin

Paul Cigan, clarinet

Eric Dircksen, bassoon

Dennis Ferry, cornet

Douglas Rosenthal, trombone

Laura Ruas, double bass

Greg Akagi, percussion

DECEMBER 10, 2017/3:30

WEST BUILDING, WEST GARDEN COURT

Christophe Sturzenegger (b. 1976)

The Snow Queen

Based on “Snedronningen,” by Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

The Soldier's Tale

Libretto by Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz (1878-1947)

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The Musicians

CHRISTOPHE STURZENEGGER

Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Christophe Sturzenegger holds advanced degrees from

major conservatories in french horn, piano, and music theory. As a horn player, he 

has played in orchestras in Zurich and Basel under the direction ofsuch conductors

as Abbado, Levine, Santi, Marriner, von Dohnanyi, and Ashkenazy, and appeared as

a soloist under Emmanuel Krivine. As a pianist, Sturzenegger has won competitions

(Friedl Wald, Denereaz), in addition to the Neumann and Dumont awards. He has

taught piano and keyboard harmony at Geneva’s Haute ecole de musique since 2003.

As a composer, he is published by Woodbrass Music and has a catalogue of more

than thirty works, including commissioned compositions, primarily for the Swiss

Musical Competition for Youth, various festivals, and the Orchestre de la Suisse

Romande. He has been the conductor and the music director for numerous productions in Switzerland and France. In 2016, he conducted fifty performances of Kurt

Weill’s The Threepenny Opera. He has performed at festivals in Salzburg, Verbier,

Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Budapest, Tokyo, and Aix-en-Provence.

ROBERT BAKER

Robert Baker, today’s narrator, is a central figure in the Washington-area classical

music scene, and with the Washington National Opera has been featured in more

than 250 performances. He has recently been seen in Appomattox and Dead Man

Walking with the company and this season will appear in Verdi’s Don Carlos.

His career highlights include the role ofIshmael in the world premiere of Peter

Westergaard’s Moby Dick at Princeton University (recorded for Albany Records)

and his Metropolitan Opera debut in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, which he recorded

during the Spoleto Festival’s 1999 production (Chandos label). Baker’s performances

outside Washington include the title role in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex at Princeton

University and Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with the New Jersey Opera

Festival, for which the New York Times praised him for being “riveting and dynamic.”

Baker is chair of the music department at George Washington University.

ZINO BOGACHEK

Ukranian-born American violinist Zino Bogachek has received broad critical acclaim 

for his technical facility and emotional expressiveness. As a recitalist and chamber

musician, he has performed throughout the former Soviet Union, Poland, Austria, 

Italy, Mexico, and the United States. His solo appearances have been with the Lviv

and the Centennial Philharmonics, the Cape Ann and the Knoxville Symphonies,

Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, and Summer Music from Greensboro Festival Orchestra.

Bogachek has participated in the National Virtuosi Festival in Ukraine, the Haydn

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Festival in Austria, the Summer Music from Greensboro Festival, and the Orfeo

Music Festival in Italy. A graduate of Lviv Conservatory, he continued his studies

at the Vienna Academy ofMusic and at Boston Lhiiversity. He has received

numerous awards, including the Boston LTiversity Directors Award, honorary

diplomas from several international competitions, and election to the Pi Kappa 

Lambda Chapter of the National Music Flonor Society. His teachers have

included Yuri Mazurkevich and Berl Senofsky. Currently, he is a member of the

Washington National Opera Orchestra.

DENNIS FERRY

Dennis Ferry, playing the cornet, was principal trumpet of the Orchestre de la Suisse

Romande in Geneva from 1977 to 2008. Previously, he was principal trumpet in the

Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Schleswig-Holsteinische Sinfonieorchester, the

Diisseldorfer Sinfoniker, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, as well as a member of

the Linked States Air Force Concert Band, Washington, DC. For thirteen summers,

Ferry was principal trumpet of the Colorado Music Festival. He performs regularly

with Opera Lafayette, the Alexandria Symphony, the Pittsburgh Opera, and the

Washington Concert Opera. Ferry holds degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University

and Catholic University ofAmerica. He has performed with major baroque ensembles

in Europe and the Linked States, including La Chapelle Royale, Les Arts Florissants,

Gli Angeli Geneve, and the Boston Early Music Festival. As principal trumpet for 

more than three decades, Ferry' has participated in more than seven hundred radio

broadcasts and has played for thirty commercial recordings.

PAUL CIGAN

Appointed to the National Symphony Orchestra’s clarinet section by Maestro

Leonard Slatkin in 1999, Cigan enjoys a career as orchestral clarinetist, chamber

musician, concerto soloist, and teacher. In addition to the National Symphony

Orchestra, Cigan can frequently be heard performing with the Eclipse Chamber

Orchestra, the 21st Century Consort, and the Smithsonian Chamber Players, as

well as in recordings with those ensembles on the Dorian, Bridge, and Naxos labels.

In 2012, Cigan premiered Donald Crockett’s Dance Concerto with the 21st Century

Consort and performed a special wind ensemble version ofthe piece with the

LIniversity ofMaryland Wind Orchestra in 2015. Prior to his position with the

National Symphony Orchestra, Cigan held principal posts with the San Antonio,

Colorado, and Virginia Symphonies. An active teacher in the Washington, DC, area,

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Cigan is currently on the faculty at the LTiversity ofMaryland, College Park. He is

also active in the National Symphony’s education department, instructing members

of the Youth Fellowship Program and the Summer Music Institute. Other activities 

include performing at the Halcyon Music Festival and the Grand Teton Music

Festival and teaching at the LTiversity of Maryland’s National Orchestral Institute

and the Philadelphia International Music Festival. Cigan studied with Anthony

Gigliotti, former principal clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and David 

Breeden, former principal clarinetist of the San Francisco Symphony.

ERIC DIRCKSEN

Eric Dircksen studied bassoon and saxophone at Indiana University in Bloomington

and at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He later played utility bassoon

and saxophone with the Jerusalem Symphony. In the Washington area, he enjoys 

an active freelance career playing principal bassoon with the Washington Concert

Opera, the Virginia Chamber Orchestra, the Amadeus Orchestra, the Chesapeake

Orchestra, and the Washington Ballet, as well as extra bassoon/contrabassoon

with the Washington Opera, the Alexandria Symphony, and the National Philharmonic. Dircksen also plays in the orchestras for the Cathedral Choral Society, the

Washington Chorus, the Washington City Choir, and the Choral Arts Society.

DOUGLAS ROSENTHAL

Douglas Rosenthal was appointed assistant principal trombonist of the Kennedy

Center Opera House Orchestra in 2012. Since moving to Washington, he has

performed with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Post-Classical Ensemble,

and the Washington Symphonic Brass. Rosenthal is also a frequent guest musician

with other orchestras, including those of Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland,

and Utah. He pursued a trombone performance degree at Northwestern University

and sought further training in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the New World

Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida.

LAURA RUAS

Laura Ruas is one ofthe region’s most sought-after double bassists. She is principal

bass of both the Baltimore Chamber and the Concert Artists of Baltimore Orchestras.

She is also guest bassist with the National and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras and a

member of the former Baltimore Opera Orchestra. She has worked with conductors

Michael Tilson Thomas, Neeme Jarvi, Leonard Bernstein, Christoph Eschenbach,

Zubin Mehta, and Marin Alsop, the last of whom invited Ruas to join the Cabrillo

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Music Festival in 2005. Her tours have included South America, France, China,

Japan, and Hong Kong. Ruas teaches double bass at the University ofMaryland,

Baltimore County, Goucher College, and the Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA)

high school. Ruas is dedicated to music education and teaches in the BSA’s TWIGS

program, which provides free music lessons for Baltimore City children. Ruas is also

program director for the Bridges Program, providing after-school string instruction

to Baltimore City youth. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the

Juilliard School, where she studied with renowned bass pedagogue Homer Mensch.

GREG AKAGI

Percussionist Greg Akagi grew up in Aloha, Oregon, and has been performing music

his entire life, starting with the piano at age three and taking up the drums in third

grade. Akagi attended Oberlin College and Conservatory and earned a double degree

in music performance and biology, with a minor in chemistry. At Oberlin, Akagi was

one of the original members of the Ragtime Ramblers group and part of many other

ensembles. He earned his master’s degree in music performance at Cleveland State

University. In 2000, he became a section member of both the Canton and the West

Virginia Symphony Orchestras. Four years later, Akagi also became principal percussionist with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. Since 2006, Akagi has been assistant

principal timpanist and a section percussionist with the Kennedy Center Opera

House Orchestra and the Washington National Opera in Washington, DC.

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Program Notes

THE SNOW QUEEN

Swiss composer Christophe Sturzenegger’s The Snow Queen —composed in Geneva

in 2009— has been performed more than seventy-five times for thousands of

spectators in Switzerland and France. Written for the same group of instruments

as Stravinsky’s Soldier's Tale, Sturzenegger’s composition is based on the Hans

Christian .Andersen fairy tale of the same name. (The Disney movie Frozen was

also inspired by Andersen’s story.) In the Snow Queen, the devil, in the form of an 

evil troll, constructs a magic mirror that distorts everything—everything “good”

appears “bad.” When the mirror breaks into thousands of pieces, one fragment

lodges in the eye of a little boy named Kay and another piece enters his heart. One

day, when Kay disappears, his friend Gerda goes out looking for him. It turns out

Kay has been kidnapped by the Snow Queen, and she has locked him away in her

castle in the north. Gerda needs to brave the Arctic cold in order to find Kay in time

to save him.

THE SOLDIER’S TALE

Igor Stravinsky began work on this virtuosic piece in 1917, while secluded in Morges,

Switzerland, during the First World War. Previously, while living and working in

Paris from 1910 to 1914, Stravinsky and his family continued to spend their summers

at their home in Ustyluh, Ukraine. In the winter of 1914, however, they relocated

for a temporary, therapeutic stay in the Swiss Alps. When World War I broke out in 

the summer of 1914, Switzerland became the composer’s home base until he and his

family could move back to France in 1920.

Despite his early successes for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes— The Firebird,

Petrushka, The Rite of Spring, and Les Notes—Stravinsky was in financial straits.

The war had cut off access to his family’s estate and funds in Russia. In addition, his

publisher, Edition Russe de Musique (headquartered in war-torn Berlin), had stopped

sending him royalties. During this time, Stravinsky was assisted financially by the

Swiss philanthropist and amateur clarinetist Werner Reinhart.

In 1915, the Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet introduced Stravinsky to

Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, a Swiss novelist, and the two men quickly became friends

and collaborators. Since Ramuz’s royalties had also been cut off, he and Stravinsky

planned a stage work that could be produced inexpensively and would require only a

handful of performers, making it portable enough to tour.

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