Mercy of the Elements
Choreography: William Whitener
Mr. Whitener’s new ballet, Mercy of the Elements, has been created for the Kansas City Ballet dancers and is set to an unusual woodwind and piano quintet by Rimsky-Korsakov.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s music brings to mind large instrumental and opera scores with Russian themes or subjects. His charming Quintet in B-flat Major displays a surprisingly different side to the composer. Mozart and Beethoven composed such quintet music for flute, clarinet, horn, oboe and piano, but Rimsky-Korsakov substituted a bassoon for the oboe. The Quintet is rarely performed today because of the unusual combination of instruments.
World Premiere: May 5, 2011, Lyric Theatre, Kansas City, Missouri