Complete Ballet
There are three versions of this work, for full orchestra, chamber orchestra/sinfonietta, and mixed chamber ensemble.
Version for chamber orchestra (2024)
Version for horn, string quintet, and keyboard (2014)
Version for orchestra(2003)
Duration: 25 minutes
Commissioned by The American Ballet Theatre, Lar Lubovitch, choreographer
Notes for the version for chamber orchestra / sinfonietta (2023):
Adapted for Tim Weiss and the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble from the original 2003 orchestral score; originally commissioned by the American Ballet Theatre, Lar Lubovitch, choreographer; Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomes, principals.
The opportunity to write Artemis came about by fluke, as some wonderful opportunities occasionally do. The composer who was scheduled to do a new work for the American Ballet Theatre for their 2003 spring season backed out at the last minute, and the company rehearsal pianist, Pedja Mužijević, who had just played a chamber work of mine a season earlier, suggested my name to the choreographer of that program, Lar Lubovitch. Lar heard my work Rainbow Body in December of 2002 (that work had originally premiered in May of 2000, and is thirteen minutes long) and asked if I could do a twenty-five minute elaboration on that work for ABT at the Metropolitan Opera- the only problem was they needed to have the score by late January, and it was already late December! I couldn’t pass up that incredible opportunity of course, and so, with a quite precise timing flow chart given to me by Lar, I got to work, and the premiere happened in May at the Met, and subsequently on to tour overseas with the company. It was a thrill for me to see the dance come to life, and the two principals were the great Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes. It was later restaged by Lar for the prima ballerina, Alessandra Ferri, in a septet chamber version, which musically was not ultimately as satisfying to me. So, when my friend and colleague, Tim Weiss, asked me if I’d be interested in doing a sinfonietta/chamber orchestra version, I was very grateful, and this is the version which you will hear tonight. It is a premiere of sorts, with a few actual changes to the original score as well as a re-orchestration of it, which was initially for large orchestra.
This particular story of the Greek goddess of wild animals and the hunt, Artemis (who is also the twin sister of the god Apollo), is adapted from one of many well-known stories about her in Greek mythology. In the ballet, she is bathing in a glade given to her by her father, Zeus, along with her nymph attendants, when a hunter, Aktaeon, who is separated from his hunting group, inadvertently comes across her and is entranced. Zeus had forbidden any mortals from being in the glade, so when Artemis sees her onlooker, she immediately turns him into a wild animal, with a physical logic and animal personality all his own. She in turn is beguiled by this beautiful beast, and a relationship ensues.
Aktaeon is out in the forest at a later point, and he hears the hunting group he was initially apart of calling his name. He appears to them, but they see him as an animal and immediately start hunting him. Eventually one of the hunters shoots an arrow, penetrating Aktaeon’s heart, and as he lies dying, Artemis suddenly appears with her consorts. She has great tenderness and mercy for him, and realizing that he will die, transfigures him into a constellation of stars scattered into the heavens, where their love will remain immortalized forever.
—Christopher Theofanidis, January 2024
Biography