Compelling Fairytale for the Stage
Igor Stravinsky composed his Firebird as a commission for the famous “Ballets russes”. Based on Russian folk tales, the story of Ivan Tsarevich, who defeats the wicked magician Kashchey with the help of the Firebird, captivated the Paris audience at its 1910 premiere – thanks to its imaginative staging and most of all because of Stravinsky’s music, which with its electrifying rhythms and poetic expressiveness compellingly illustrates the exotically shimmering world of the Firebird and the dark gloomy realm of the wicked Kashchey with enchanting orchestral sounds.