The text-format of Prairie Dog Song written in collaboration with Cindy Trumbore (see Parrots Over Puerto Rico and The Mangrove Tree) was inspired by an old Irish folksong. Cindy's daughter, composer Dale Trumbore, created a choral arrangement also inspired by the original song. She recorded it with a children's choir available at leeandlow.com. Her original score is included at the end of the book so that readers can sing the text as well as read it.
Composer Victoria Bond's new opera, MIRACLE! (libretto by me), which was commissioned by the Young Peoples' Chorus of New York City.
My friend, the composer Victoria Bond, wrote music
designed to be performed together with a slide show
of my illustrations from my book, Nothing
But Miracles, written by Walt Whitman. The
world premiere took place in Baltimore, Maryland,
in May, 2004. Fifty-five young boys from the Gilman
School performed the piece which was the focal point
of the annual Spring celebration there. This amazing
event could only have happened with the dedicated
participation of many people at the Gilman school,
most especially by my friend, librarian Cindy Woodruff,
who coordinated the event which included collage
workshops presented by me, and an exhibit of my
original art work from Nothing
But Miracles in the Gilman School Gallery.
Click here
to view music composed to Nothing
But Miracles or click on the arrow below
to listen:
Maestro Angelo Mafucci conducting
the world premiere of Victoria Bond's
Guido d'Arezzo Oratorio with Silvia Martinelli,
Lisandro Guinis,
Pietro Ciabatti, and the Piccoli Cantori del Convitto.
Arezzo, Italy, December 16, 2006.
Victoria Bond and I collaborated again with a similar
project which centered on my book Do
Re Mi. Angelo Mafucci, who is maestro of
the children's choir of Arezzo, Italy, taught the
children the music and conducted the world premiere
which took place in the Cathedral of Arezzo on December
16, 2006. Click
here for the story of this historic event in
Publishers Weekly, written
by Alexis Burling.
Click
on the images to enlarge:
La Nazione,
16 Dicembre 2006
Il Corriere,
13 Dicembre 2006
Concerto Di
Natale
Angelo Mafucci, Victoria Bond, Silvia
Martinelli, and Susan L. Roth,
at the official Christmas dinner hosted by Professor
Enrico Fadda,
director of the Convitto Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele
II.
We are planning an
art show of all the original art from Do
Re Mi to be held in Arezzo.
Listen to the children's choir of Arezzo performing
Victoria Bond's music
composed for Do Re Mi:
1
2
3
At
the invitation of Stephanie Borgman, Chair of the
Children’s Round Table of the Texas Library Association,
The North American Premiere of the Guido
d'Arezzo Oratorio was presented in San Antonio
at the convention on April 14, 2007. Karen Sieffert
conducted the All-state Choir and soloists.
Victoria
Bond, Nancy Patz and I created a commissioned piece
for Babies Can’t Eat Kimchee!,
which was premiered at GreenMount School, Baltimore,
MD in 2008.
Listen to the Wind, a song by Victoria Bond, with
words by both of us, had its World Premiere on January
22, 2009, at Barnes and Noble, Lincoln Center, New
York City.
Victoria Bond spoke about her composition, commissioned
by Young People’s Chorus of New York City™:
“The picture book, Listen to the Wind, cried out for music because the
words are so lyrical. The title suggested music to
me immediately. I began to explore music of Pakistan
as a source of inspiration. I discovered a melodic
line often decorated with characteristic ornamentation,
and I included some of this in my song. We are happy
to build upon the literary and visual aspects of the
picture book, Listen to the Wind, with music, song and with young voices
and young faces which resonate for us with the young
voices that speak the words in the book and the young
faces that shine in the illustrations.” - Victoria
Bond
Listen to the Wind is our fourth book/music
collaboration, with many more TKTKTK
Click on the arrow below
to listen to music composed to Listen to the Wind:
Young People’s Chorus of New York City™ practicing
and performing the
world premiere of Victoria Bond's piece written
for Listen to the Wind
Choristers: Ashanti Alvarez, Francesca Beldner,
Lillian Carver, Remy Comp, Sarah Greenspon, Aly
Koita, Emily Ma, Ross Macatangay, Jamal Marcelin,
Ariana Nathani, Samantha Padilla, Demitri Papoulis,
Nicholas Scarmato, Thalia St. Hubert
My friend, the composer Victoria Bond, wrote music
designed to be performed together with a slide show
of my illustrations from my book, 
Victoria Bond and I collaborated again with a similar
project which centered on my book 
