BASIL TWIST

"Brilliantly imagined, wonderfully expressive, and breathtakingly realized" - New York Magazine

Originally commissioned for Lincoln Center for The Performing Arts, this work spins new magic around the legendary Ballets Russes production of "Petrouchka". It tells of the tragic love triangle between three magical puppets; the clown Petrushka, the alluring Ballerina and the dashing Moor whose stories emerge amidst the swirl of the Russian carnival. Russian identical twin pianists, Julia and Irina Elkina, perform a specially created two piano version of Stravinsky's masterpiece. Nine hidden puppeteers combine Czech and Japanese puppetry traditions in a tour de force of puppetry technique. The program opens with an abstract fantasia of puppetry set to Stravinsky's Sonata for Two Pianos.

Watch the 2008 television spots on Good Morning Arizona:
Scenes, Preview, and Interview

Petrushka was commissioned by and premiered at
Lincoln Center for The Performing Arts in May 2001.

Also presented at

The Ravinia Festival, Chicago, IL (2005)

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Becket - MASS (June 2002)

The International Festival of Arts and Ideas - New Haven, CT (June 2002)

The Gilmore International Keyboard Festival - Kalamazoo, MI (May 2002)

The Walker Arts Center and In the Heart of the Beast Theatre - Minneapolis, MN (March 2001)

Zeum Theatre - San Francisco, CA (June 2000)

Petrushka received a 2000 UNIMA Citation of Excellence.