Evoking at times the modern/medieval sound of Orff's Carmina Burana, Alexander Nevsky is a spectacular showpiece for chorus and orchestra, not to be missed!

It will be performed by the Eastman-Rochester Chorus, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (http://www.rpo.org). (Did you know the Novgorod is one of Rochester's Sister Cities?)

Also on the program: Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and Antonin Dvorák'sViolin Concerto with Wilfredo Deglans as soloist.

Prokofiev took his film score and drew sections from the work into a cantata of sorts, his Op. 78 (he had done much the same with his earlier music for Lieutenant Kijé).

Alexander Nevsky is scored for large orchestra, SATB chorus and alto solist. The seven movements are:

I. Russia under the Mongol Yoke (orchestra)

II. Song about Alexander Nevsky - in Russian (chorus and orchestra)

III. The Crusaders in Pskov - in Latin (chorus and orchestra)

IV. Arise, you Russian people! - in Russian (chorus and orchestra)

V. Battle on the Ice - in Latin (but mostly orchestra!)

VI. Field of the Dead - in Russian (alto solo, a haunting lament)

VII. Alexander's Entry into Pskov - in Russian (chorus and orchestra)

As David Gutman writes, "the film . . . was a rare artistic triumph for Socialist Reaslim and a rallying-cry for a people threatened by resurgent German militarism."

You've been invited by Gerry

In 1938, composer Sergey Prokofiev was approached by film director Sergey Eisenstein about collaborating on his next project, a bio-pic on the life of Alexander Nevsky, 13th-century Prince of Novgorod and hero to all Russians (and Soviets, too).

In 1242, learning that a horde of Teutonic Knights was moving towards Russia after over-running Prussia, Alexander raised an army of peasants and warriors that rebuffed the invaders in the famous "Battle on the Ice" of Lake Chudskoye.