MUSIC FROM THE WHIRLWIND

$5.40 – $15.00

Music from the Whirlwind is an insightful, searingly funny and poignant exploration of the relationship between the oppressive Russian leader Josef Stalin and the revolutionary composer Dmitri Shostakovich. The play journeys through old St Petersburg where Shostakovich grew up, and into the life and mind of a great artist caught up in a madman's vision.

Aitken asks how this particular artist survived a regime where writers, musicians, actors and painters vanished daily only to turn up later as tortured corpses.

John Aitken has written a fascinating account of a remarkably talented musician who worked 'during the Terror' wrought by Stalin. - The Sunday Telegraph

Such is the power of the script and the depth of the music that we share the intense emotional intimacy, alternating between fear and relief that constantly surrounded this enigmatic composer. - David Solomo, The West Australian

APT