Alexander Shelley to Bring Stravinsky's FIREBIRD To Life With Full-Length Animated Visuals

Marking a pivotal moment in his early career, Igor Stravinsky’s 1910 ballet The Firebird brought the composer international attention with a score that contrasted lyricism with sounds that challenged audiences of its time. Southern California audiences will have the opportunity to hear the work when Artistic and Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley leads Pacific Symphony for his third concert of the 2025–2026 Classical Series, running January 15–17 at 8 p.m., with a matinee performance on January 18 at 3 p.m.

The program opens with John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine, followed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto, performed by American violinist Aubree Oliverson. Composed in 1945, the concerto incorporates themes from Korngold’s film scores, including Another Dawn, Juárez, Anthony Adverse, and The Prince and the Pauper, transforming cinematic material into a concert work that balances lyricism and technical demands. The Firebird closes the program and will be accompanied by a full-length animated film by Fowler Amusement created for these performances.

“We begin this year of America 250 celebration with a program of masterpieces by composers who have lived in the U.S., specifically California, and who have formed part of the musical tapestry of the nation,” explains Shelley. “John Adams has made California his creative home for more than half a century, and his work as a composer, conductor, and creative force has profoundly shaped American music. Korngold and Stravinsky were European émigrés who found tremendous success in the U.S., theirs is a distinctly American story, underscoring the rich cultural and artistic exchange between Europe and the United States in the 20th century.”

Stravinsky composed The Firebird for Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes before immigrating to the United States in 1937. Korngold, an Austrian native, wrote his Violin Concerto after establishing himself as a film composer in Hollywood.

The concert opens with Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine, composed in 1986. The brief orchestral work features a steady woodblock pulse set against dense, shifting textures. Adams has described the piece as a musical depiction of riding in a powerful sports car, using that image to reflect the work’s precision and momentum.

“‘Short Ride in a Fast Machine’ is about five minutes of pure energy,” says Shelley. “John Adams evokes both the exhilaration and anxiety of taking a ride in a friend’s very fancy Italian sports car. It’s an amazingly conceived sprint and truly virtuosic for the orchestra.”

Oliverson then joins the orchestra for Korngold’s Violin Concerto, a work frequently performed for its lyrical writing and technically demanding finale.

“As we look toward America 250, it feels especially fitting to spotlight the next generation of American soloists,” says Shelley. “Aubree Oliverson and I met several years ago, and I have been delighted to watch her career blossom. Korngold’s Violin Concerto is an exceptionally beautiful listening experience and her warmth and artistry pair very well with the sweeping Romanticism and virtuosic demands of the work.”

After intermission, The Firebird is presented in its complete ballet form. The score combines orchestral techniques influenced by Stravinsky’s teacher, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, with innovations that departed from prevailing ballet conventions of the period. The work marked a significant risk for the Ballets Russes as its first production featuring an entirely new score and drew on Russian folk material alongside large-scale theatrical gestures.

“Many people are accustomed to hearing the suites from ‘The Firebird,’ but the full ballet is absolutely extraordinary,” says Shelley. “This season, we’ve focused on works with powerful narratives, and I am convinced that the experience of the Firebird is enhanced and transformed when audiences see the story unfold as they listen. For this reason, I was keen to commission a version that could live in the concert hall. I am deeply grateful to Fowler Amusement for their custom animation. I believe this experience will resonate with all ages and backgrounds, and it marks the beginning of our exploration of new interdisciplinary partnerships to deepen our storytelling.”