STEVE HACKMAN conducts

Is it wickedness or weakness? Will it be salvation or damnation? Who bears the curse: the puppet or the puppet master?

Steve Hackman’s IGOR DAMN STRAVINSKY ponders these mysteries. A daring fusion of two masterpieces, the work combines Stravinsky’s Petrouchka with Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN. These two works share striking similarities: first, they each offer a challenging commentary on the human experience through a ‘show-within-a-show’ device (in Petrouchka a puppet show takes place within the main action on stage; in DAMN, an alternate world is set into motion by a gunshot); second, the main characters, Petrouchka and Kung-Fu Kenny, waver between being joyfully accepted and sadly misanthropic, while each struggles with his sense of both identity and reality.

As the puppets of Stravinsky’s ballet become human and begin to experience emotions, the music explores corresponding songs from Kendrick’s album: ‘LOVE.’, ‘FEAR.’, ‘XXX.’, ‘FEEL.’, ‘LOYALTY.’, ‘HUMBLE.’

Steve Hackman shows remarkable skill in his synthesis of these two powerful, poignant works, composed here into a single opus that unfolds in each work’s original order. With each new scene in Stravinsky’s ballet, we experience the next Kendrick Lamar song from the album.

YPX VIP After-Party

Keep the night going at the YPX VIP After-Party right after the concert! Enjoy a chic lounge setting in the lobby with a dance floor and live DJ. Tickets are $75 and include a complimentary drink and appetizers, all while supporting the DSO’s concerts and community programs. Tickets may be purchased at checkout.