On April 7 at 2 and 4 p.m., the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. will give the U.S. premiere of the new orchestral version of Raphael Mostel’s Babar’s Return to the Land of the Elephants, one of Mostel’s two compositions based on the popular children’s books. The work combines music, storytelling, and images to evoke the children’s tales about the kingly pachyderm, based on the books by writer and artist Jean de Brunhoff, with a new English translation by Phyllis Rose. NSO Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke will lead the concerts, which will also include an abridged version of Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals, with verse by Jack Prelutsky and illustrations by Mary GrandPré, illustrator of the Harry Potter book series. The 2 p.m. concert is a sensory-friendly performance, designed to accommodate children with autism or other sensory sensitivities, though all are welcome. An instrument petting zoo will precede both performances, and the 4 p.m. concert will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the NSO musicians.
Posted March 28, 2019
