If the history of the world was told through the story of the development of art rather then than descriptions of bloody wars humankind would perhaps be better served. Artists across cultures recognize the unity of spirit and perceive the spirituality of art no matter what the cultural origin. True artists perceive work of other artists especially those from other cultures as sources of inspiration. 

Gustav’s Holst’s opera is a fine example of this reality.  An English composer, he sought to find in the literature of India, a country enslaved by his own, an inspiration for a new creation. Savitri was one such find that inspired him to create an English opera. Its creation had tremendous impact on English music as whole.

When the Lexington Symphony, a professional orchestra from Lexington, MA,  was looking for an interesting piece to perform for the fall season, conductor Jonathan McPhee, who is also the conductor of the Boston Ballet, proposed Savitri. “I always had a fondness for this piece. For its success I needed to find the right tenor and baritone. When I heard  Ray Bauwens, tenor sing I knew I had found  Satyavan. Robert Honeysuckle was right for the role of "Death" and  Valerie Nicolosi, soprano for Savitri" said McPhee The result was an exquiste performance that delighted the hearts of the hundreds of residents who attended the event on November 4, 2006 at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington.


The story is a part of the epic Mahabharata where Veda Vyasa depicts Savitri as the ultimate "Dharma Patni" who because of the power of her Dharma, could defeat Yama himself. Holst has a different angle on the story where he portrays this as a love story with the theme of “Love Conquers All Even Death”.  He uses the Opera to present two Indian ideas - that of Maya and the concept of Death not being the ultimate end or evil. Savitri refers to death as the “Holy One”.

Since this was an Indian story Liz Steele and the other members of the Board of the Lexington Symphony Orchestra thought it would be interesting to present a contrasting view of this story in dance form from the Indian perspective.

For the audience it was delightful evening  where they witnessed some beautiful artistic presentations and also had the opportunity to savour delicious Indian sweets made by culinary expert, Nirmala Garimella. 

The evening made the audience believe that "Lexington, MA" was the home of great  art rather than just think of it as the home of an important battle.

To read more reviews on the Opera click on www.lexingtonsymphony.org

|