A WWII draftee faces death by firing squad for desertion. He'll be allowed to live if he serves out the rest of the war. That's the extreme situation dealt with in "A Soldier's Tale," a unique stage piece of narration, dance, and music featuring a 1918 score by Igor Stravinsky and updated, modern (sometimes vulgar) text by Kurt Vonnegut.
A collaboration between Fontana Chamber Arts and the WMU School of Music, it will receive performances in the Dalton Center Multi-Media Room Friday and Saturday.
The small ensemble of top-shelf players features violinist Soovin Kim, who says it's refreshing to play the part of fiddler in a band. As conductor, David Colson relishes Stravinsky's never-ending series of unexpected metric shifts, gallows humor, and twisted dances.