Classic Peter and the Wolf brought to life by CyberSphere lasers

Release Date: 9/3/2003. Expired: 10/18/2003

A classic children’s tale takes on a whole new life in the CyberSphere Digital Theater’s presentation of Peter and the Wolf, a Musical Laser Tale.

Composed in 1936 by Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf is the musical story of a young boy’s adventure in capturing the wolf that prowls the meadow near his grandfather’s home. It has become a standard musical teaching tool with each character represented by an instrument or instrumental family.

The CyberSphere, located in The Renaissance Center in Dickson, presents Peter and the Wolf, a Musical Laser Tale, at 3 p.m. Saturdays, Sept. 6-Oct. 18. Admission is $6 for all seats.

The story is narrated by Sting, a 15-time Grammy winner as a solo artist and with his former band The Police. The music is performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Claudio Abbado.

“For decades now, Peter and the Wolf has been presented to children to expose them to symphonic music, since each character is represented by a different instrument along with the narration,” said Ron Stinson, director of the CyberSphere. “Our show combines the 14,000 watts of digital Surround Sound with spectacular laser and digital images that tell the story.”

Prokofiev (1891-1953) was a Russian composer who wrote seven symphonies and several operas, ballets and concertos. He wrote Peter and the Wolf, his 67th work, as a musical piece for his own children. He conducted the orchestra for the piece’s public debut in Moscow’s Nelzobin Theater in 1936.

Peter and the Wolf has been recorded by dozens of symphonies around the world with narrations by such notables as Sir John Gielgud, Andre Previn, David Bowie, Jack Lemmon, Boris Karloff, Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo), Dom DeLuise, Dudley Moore, Patrick Stewart, Sean Connery and Melissa Joan Hart.

“Peter and the Wolf has always been a musical story performed by orchestras with a narrator,” said Joe Wyatt, assistant director of the CyberSphere. “Peter and the Wolf, a Musical Laser Tale, presents the same wonderful composition and enhances it with wonderful visual effects from the state-of-the-art laser projector and other technology inside the CyberSphere. It gives the story a whole new aspect and a visual depth that can’t be achieved in any other medium.”

For more information on Peter and the Wolf, a Musical Laser Tale, call (615)740-5600. The CyberSphere is a four-story domed theater that is home to the latest technology in starfield, laser and video projectors. It is located in The Renaissance Center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40.

Visit the CyberSphere page for more about Planetarium and Laser Shows or the Home - News page for current and archived press releases.