Duke Ellingtons «The Nutcracker Suite»

Klaus Henner Russius reads E. T. A. Hoffmanns «Das Märchen vom Nussknacker»

With his ballet “The Nutcracker”, Tchaikovsky did not compose pure Christmas music, but a particularly fitting soundtrack to a danced story full of Christmas magic. An army of mice can be put to flight with an exterminator. Or with an army of tin soldiers, a nutcracker and a vigorously thrown slipper. So we are right in the middle of the story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”. E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote the fairy tale about a little girl who first argues with her brother on Christmas Eve, then chases away mice and finally falls asleep under the Christmas tree. Tchaikovsky loved the story and decided to compose a ballet score. It becomes his greatest success in his lifetime.

Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn arranged their own virtuoso adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” for the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1960. With nine skillfully arranged movements and clever titles such as “Toot Toot Tootie Toot” or “Sugar Rum Cherry”, this LP is the quintessence of Ellington’s blend of wit and sophistication.

Klaus Henner Russius (*1937) lives in Zurich and is a freelance actor and director. After graduating from high school, he trained as an actor at the Max Reinhardt School in Berlin. This was followed by engagements in Göttingen, Düsseldorf, St. Gallen and Mannheim. From 1968 to 1980, he performed in Basel with Werner Düggelin and Hans Hollmann and then at the Schauspielhaus Frankfurt until 1985. He also appeared as a guest at the Stadttheater Basel and the Neumarkt Theater in Zurich. Klaus Henner Russius has been working as a freelancer since 1985, including in Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Bonn and Zurich. His one-man productions have attracted particular attention: Heinrich von Kleist’s Michael “Kohlhaas” (1994) and “Das Nibelungenlied” (1996). But Russius also feels at home in more profane settings. For example, he appeared in a dozen episodes of the Swiss series “Lüthi und Blanc”. In addition to his acting activities, he has also repeatedly worked as a director and undertaken extensive reading tours.