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Life & Arts

Moores school features ballet artistry at its finest

Renowned conductor Krager takes the lead for Saturday's event

by KAREN KLUCZNIK
The Daily Cougar

Though the semester has begun its final descent, the Ballet Orchestra at the Moores School of Music is in full swing for its Saturday evening performance along with Houston Ballet II as part of the Festival of Music and Dance at UH.

"Ballet is such a fabulous art form. You are going to see students in their last portion of training — the last time you will see them before they go on to professional careers," orchestra conductor Franz Krager said. "Putting this together with the Ballet II, we get them and they get us — they love to dance to live music and we love to do ballets."

Under the direction of ballet master Claudio Munoz and Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch, the Houston Ballet II consists of students from the Houston Ballet Academy's Level 8 professional division. With a repertoire including both classical and contemporary works, the division provides the Houston community with quality, professional performances in a variety of venues.

Musical scores to be performed include classics such as excerpts from Peter Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker and Frederic Chopin's Les Sylphides — a piece originally written for piano but later re-scored for an orchestra.

In addition, a rhumba by Australian composer Graeme Koehne titled Powerhouse and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Elegy will also be performed.

"All of these are different pieces. The rhumba is the most fun and calls for a large orchestra with a lot of percussion and a big piano part," Krager said. "Ballet is all about rhythm and tempo and to be able to acknowledge what the dancers need is very fascinating."

Graduate student Ilonka Rus, who performs during Rhumba and Excerpts from Les Sylphides, and Bart Steyaert, who performs during Elegy, will perform major piano parts.

Krager helped bring the department into national prominence. He led orchestras in Moscow's State Kremlin Palace, Leipzig Gewandhaus and the Sydney Opera House. For more than 20 years, he has championed new music, conducted and recorded many premieres of works commissioned and produced from the Moores School of Music and the Brazos Valley Symphony resident composer programs.

Admission for Saturday's performance, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Moores Opera House, is $10 for students and seniors and $15 for general admission. For more information, call (713) 743-3313.
 

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