A Fiddler’s Tale (1989) is Wynton Marsalis’ jazz-infused re-telling of Stravinsky’s famous A Soldier’s Tale. The Faustian morality tale is re-set in the Mississippi Delta. A woman jazz fiddler is seduced and sells her soul to the Devil, a record producer, and reluctantly suppresses her true creativity in pursuit of commercial success. The fiddler battles alcoholism and heartbreak as she struggles to break the Devil’s hold to again make music of genuine beauty.

A Fiddler’s Tale, with narrator, is suffused with blues and jazz, befitting Wynton Marsalis’ New Orleans heritage. Marsalis is the only jazz artist ever to win a Pulitzer Prize for music and takes us beyond the trivial into a world of personal struggle and real emotion.

This ensemble of highly acclaimed WA musicians, who performed The Soldier’s Tale last year, return with A Fiddler’s Tale, a modern jewel rarely heard in Australia.

A Fiddler’s Tale comprises the entire program and runs for approx. 70 minutes.

‘The music of A Fiddler’s Tale is transcendent …’ - C. Michael Bailey All About Jazz

Music: Wynton Marsalis
Text: Stanley Crouch
Narrator: Humphrey Bower
Clarinet: Catherine Cahill
Bassoon: Jane Kircher
Violin: Semra Lee
Double Bass : Andrew Rootes
Cornet: David Elton
Trombone: Joshua Davis
Percussion: Paul Tanner