Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Loren Tayerle (left) is producing 'The Soldier's Tale' starring Deborah Alexander (center) and Anthony Craig.

Tale of a soldier told at winery

By Shari Kaplan

Although Savannah Chanel Vineyards in Saratoga is not hosting a wedding on June 26-27, visitors to the quiet, rustic mountain property that weekend will still find something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

What's actually happening at the vineyard is an outdoor, multimedia production of the musical drama The Soldier's Tale, with instrumentation by Igor Stravinsky and text by C.F. Ramuz. Under the direction and conduction of Los Gatan Loren Tayerle, the piece consisits of dialogue by an omniscient narrator, interpretive dance and music by a scaled-down orchestra.

This performance of The Soldier's Tale is a new interpretation of an old creation that debuted in 1918. Tayerle has borrowed seven professional musicians to make the piece come alive through the sounds of violin, double bass, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone and mixed percussion. Blue describes the mood of the soldier in at least part of the plot. A lonely deserter from the Russian army, he soon finds himself embroiled in a contest with the devil that involves his soul and his fiddle.

"I've been studying the piece for about 18 years now. It's a piece that's always inspired me. This is a project I've been wanting to do for the past several years," explains Tayerle, a conductor and musician who also teaches music history at DeAnza College in Cupertino.

"Like most Stravinsky pieces, it has a lot of character to it. It's a fascinating little story and the music is fantastic. It's very much in the style of [Stravinsky's] Rite of Spring, but it's more refined," he says, adding that there is also--as incongruous as it might initially seem--a strong flavor of Dixieland jazz in the instrumentation of A Soldier's Tale.

A cellar assistant at David Bruce Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Tayerle began thinking about the project in earnest after he discovered that cellar manager Anthony Craig is a professional actor and shared Tayerle's desire to try putting on a musical dramatic production at a small venue.

Tayerle and Craig also found out that Michael Ballard, the current owner of Savannah Chanel, had been thinking of bringing cultural events to his winery for some time and thought Tayerle might have some ideas for the musical side of things.

A few months of networking and organizing later, and A Soldier's Tale went from an idea to a reality. Tayerle conducts, his seven-piece orchestra plays, Craig narrates, performing artist Deborah Alexander dances and Ballard works the lights.

The event begins at 7:30 p.m. with wine-tasting and hors d'oeuvres. The performance starts at 8:45 p.m. Tickets are $25 each, and seating is limited. The winery is located at 23600 Congress Springs Road. Call 741-2934 for information.

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