Hopkins Center for the Arts

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Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra

Metamorphosis: From Myth to Music

featuring R.H. Thomson, actor

Saturday, AUGUST 18 • 8 pm
Spaulding Auditorium • $26
Dartmouth students $5

Click to download PROGRAM NOTES

In the first century A.D., the great Latin poet Ovid re-created the Greek myths in his epic Metamorphoses. These stirring tales of transformation have inspired the concert by Toronto's famed Tafelmusik, “one of the world's top baroque orchestras” (Gramophone Magazine). The Grammy-nominated ensemble on period instruments, and Canadian actor R.H. Thomson narrating the stories as Ovid himself, instill spirited new life into primeval stories that have informed western culture for centuries. On the program are Jean-Philippe Rameau's ravishing Castor and Pollux, based on the twins immortalized in the constellation Gemini, and Pygmalion, from the poignant tale of the beautiful statue who springs to life through love. Tafelmusik also performs Henry Purcell's Echo Symphony, Marin Marais' heart-wrenching Alcyone and Vivaldi's “Summer” from the Four Seasons, recalling the exquisite musical duel between Pan's reeds and Apollo's strings.

Supported in part by the Dartmouth Summer Arts Initiative. See dartmouth.edu/~lhc for complete Arts Initiative events list