The Little Orchestra Society Presents Lemony Snicket and Nathaniel Stookey's 'The Composer Is Dead' Featuring Lemony Snicket as Guest Narrator

The Little Orchestra Society Presents Lemony Snicket and Nathaniel Stookey's 'The Composer Is Dead' Featuring Lemony Snicket as Guest Narrator

John Corigliano's 'Pied Piper Fantasy' to Begin a Program of 'Musical Mysteries' at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center

NEW YORK, Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, January 26th, Lemony Snicket, one of the most popular children's authors of our time, will join The Little Orchestra Society and its longtime Music Director, Dino Anagnost, for the New York premiere of The Composer is Dead, a musical collaboration between Mr. Snicket and his high school friend, the composer Nathaniel Stookey. The performance is part of The Little Orchestra Society's popular Happy Concerts for Young People series for children ages 6 - 12 and will also feature composer John Corigliano's Pied Piper Fantasy as part of a program of "Musical Mysteries" at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center.

"We are thrilled to host the New York premiere of this exciting new work by the very talented duo of Nathaniel Stookey and Lemony Snicket, which we believe will further The Little Orchestra's mission of introducing young people to classical music," said Dino Anagnost, Music Director of The Little Orchestra Society and its Happy Concerts for Young People series. "While it is a most 'unhappy' fate that befalls the composer in this morbidly funny story, audiences -- both young and old -- will doubtlessly leave this performance with a grin, not a grimace."

In the vein of his wildly popular sequence of books, A Series of Unfortunate Events, which was adapted into a feature length film in 2004, Lemony Snicket's The Composer is Dead invites young audiences to join "The Inspector" as he investigates the mystery of who murdered the composer by playfully interrogating suspects in every section of the orchestra.

"The Composer has many enemies lurking in the Orchestra," Snicket writes. "I will find them if they are lurking in the strings. I will find them if they are lurking in the brass. I will find them if they are lurking in the woodwinds. I will find them if they are lurking in the percussion section. I will find them wherever ... wherever they are lurking."

The Composer is Dead, which will be published as a book and CD by HarperCollins in Winter 2009, was crafted in the tradition of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. It is Lemony Snicket's first foray into classical music and it has already achieved critical acclaim in San Francisco, where it premiered as a commissioned work of the San Francisco Symphony on July 8, 2006. San Francisco Chronicle critic Joshua Kosman called it "deliciously morbid entertainment."

According to Mr. Snicket, who will narrate the piece himself with The Little Orchestra Society, "I have been asked if I might say a word or two about the text of The Composer is Dead, and the one or two words that come to mind are 'Boo-hoo.' The story -- which, as far as I know, is absolutely true -- is so heartbreakingly glum that I cannot imagine that you will be able to listen to it without dabbing at your tears with a nearby handkerchief."

Adds Nathaniel Stookey, "I hope I'm not giving too much away by saying that The Composer is Dead ends with a funeral march made up of music by some of the world's greatest composers, a solid majority of whom are alas no longer with us. All the rest of the music in the piece is mine and will also be by a dead composer some day, which is very sad if you stop to think about it."

Even before audiences get a most unhealthy dose of Lemony Snicket, their musical mystery experience begins with Pied Piper Fantasy based on the famous poem by Robert Browning about the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Bonita Boyd is the featured flutist and she will be joined by special surprise guests. It is a great introduction to The Composer is Dead by one who is very much alive -- the Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano.

Concert and Ticket Information:
Musical Mysteries: The Composer is Dead and Pied Piper Fantasy
Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 11:00am and 1:00pm
Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center
1941 Broadway at 65th Street, New York City
Ticket Prices: $10 - $40
Contact: The Little Orchestra Society at 212-971-9500 or the Avery Fisher
Hall Box Office at 212-875-5030 or buy tickets online at

www.littleorchestra.org.

About The Little Orchestra Society

The Little Orchestra Society, now in its 60th Anniversary Season, performed its inaugural concert at The Town Hall on October 20, 1947 and has since been devoted to performing innovative concerts of classical music for both adults and children. The Orchestra's programs include the Lolli-Pops(TM) for children ages 3-5, Happy Concerts for Young People for children ages 6-12 and the Sound Discoveries(TM) series for adults which includes Vivaldi's Venice. The Little Orchestra Society, which has been under the direction of Dino Anagnost since 1978, making him among the longest-serving music directors in New York City, has hosted many important premieres and launched the careers of major musical talents. And as New York's most accessible orchestra, The Little Orchestra Society offers arts education and concert programs that continue to entertain and educate New York City children and their families. Visit www.littleorchestra.org.

Source: The Little Orchestra Society

CONTACT: Michael Woloz, Connelly & McLaughlin, +1-212-437-7373,
mwoloz@candm1.com, for The Little Orchestra Society

Web site:

http://www.littleorchestra.org/

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