Ridgefield Symphony will offer first staged production

The first of two Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra performances in the Playhouse Series sponsored by Union Savings Bank will include works by Igor Stravinsky and Joseph Haydn. The chamber concert will take place Saturday, Jan. 10, at 8 p.m. at Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Avenue.

When Igor Stravinsky wrote “The Soldier’s Tale” in 1918 during World War I, he was stuck in Switzerland, cut off from his financial resources, while musicians he relied upon were off serving their countries. But with help from generous friends Stravinsky decided to compose a work that could be performed by a small number of artists and taken on tour. The result – the version performed at this concert – is scored for seven instruments with the story told through narration, dance and song.

“A Ridgefield first: symphony meets theater in a fully staged presentation of Stravinsky’s rarely performed cautionary tale,” said Ridgefield Symphony Music Director Gerald Steichen of the upcoming presentation of “The Soldier’s Tale.” It will feature dancers James Robey and Melissa Gerth, directors of the Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance, and singer Jeremy Webb, star in the Lincoln Center 2008 production of “The Glorious Ones.”