I'm not sure why I'd never heard of this before, but Lemony Snicket (author of the famed Unfortunate Events) has written a book all about the orchestra called "The Composer is Dead". There is a score that accompanies the story and this last weekend, a local orchestra was performing it. With Billy working, I packed the kids up and we went to search it out for a little Easter weekend adventure.
The program was wonderful! It was completely geared toward kids and began with an oboe concerto followed by "The Composer is Dead". The story was narrated by a UCA theater professor and the illustrations from the book were displayed on a large screen behind the orchestra. I found myself laughing out loud! It was so entertaining.
After the performance was over, members of the orchestra talked with the kids about their instruments and they got to try a few. There were free brownies, cookies, and rice crispy treats, and juice. I was so pleasantly surprised that something like this was happening near Little Rock. It is not a big city and enriching kid activities are hard to find here.
Crafts followed and all in all, it was a really great afternoon!
This is a little video done with Lemony Snicket and Nathaniel Stookey (the composer of The Composer is Dead). It explains the story a little and gives you a taste of the music.
You can also click HERE, if you want to see the book/cd on amazon. I think I'm going to have to order it!
2 comments:
Don't feel bad about not hearing about this. We haven't heard of it either and Dad usually keeps up with new scores and pieces for orchestra. This looks great! Glad you and the kids had a good time. Looks super fun.
love the picture of the kids with their stashes :)
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