The Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra opens its new season this weekend with concerts that feature not just musicians on stage, but also dancers. Conductor Ming Luke invited members of the Borderlands Ballet Company and the Las Cruces Chamber Ballet to present excerpts from Piotr Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” in concerts that, as Luke put it, “all have to do with the theatre and the stage.” The concerts also include excerpts from “Romeo and Juliet” by Sergei Prokofiev and the Overture to “Midsummer’s Night Dream,” by Felix Mendelssohn.
In this short interview with Intermezzo host Leora Zeitlin, Luke said, “Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, two of the most famous ballet composers – to have their works on the stage is going to be a fantastic opening to our season.”
Musical excerpts in the interview are from the Overture to “Midsummer’s Night Dream” with the London Symphony Orchestra, Peter Maag conducting (London/Decca 443578), and two excerpts from “Swan Lake” with Maurice Abravanel conducting the Utah Symphony Orchestra (Vanguard 7005).