The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is collaborating with Chamber Music Hawaiʻi on a production of Igor Stravinskyʻs lʻHistore du Soldat (Soldierʻs Tale) in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, Moʻolelo o ke Koa with a chamber ensemble and dance.
The project is the thesis production of Todd Farley who is working on his masters in fine arts at UH Mānoa.
“My work with the production was to conceptualize the whole story as a Hawaiian adaptation of Stravinsky’s work,” Farley said.
Farley sought the assistance of UH Mānoa Hawaiian language student Kaipu Baker for help with the ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, and Baker became the project’s Hawaiian language director.
“The most important thing to me is keeping the play genuine and kūpono (honest) to what we hold as true to Hawaiian beliefs and practice in the performance,” Baker said.
Last year was the 100th anniversary of the work by Stravinsky and Swiss writer C.F. Famuz.
“This story tells both a European story and a Hawaiian story together,” Farley said. “And just as our people now here on the islands of Hawaiʻi wrestle with what it means to be a world citizen as well as Hawaiian, I think that helps us probe that question.”
The production features theatre, dance, Hawaiian language and Hawaiian studies students from UH Mānoa.
The production will be performed for the public at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art on January 14, and at Palikū Theatre at Windward Community College on January 18. Tickets can be purchased at ChamberMusicHawaii.org.
Moʻolelo o Ke Koa will also be performed at Palikū Theatre for the Hawaiian Immersion Schools in the Koʻolaupoko and Koʻolauloa districts.
