The Story of The Three Little Pigs

This work was commissioned by Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings alongside a series of new works to supplement their educational programming. The works are meant to integrate children’s stories and chamber music, in a similar style as Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. The text for this work is adapted from Emily Bolam’s 2013 children’s book The Three Little Pigs, with her original illustrations used with permission for the premiere performance. The music combines folky, lyrical melodies, dance-inspired forms, and various fanfare-like passages to tell the classic children’s story of the Three Little Pigs. The narrator’s text is integrated throughout ,followed by melodic vignettes of the plot, using both literal text painting such as the chromatic scales that represent the houses falling down, as well as melodies that reflect the mood or character of the story, with the Big Bad Wolf portrayed as sly and clever with a slow, sinister tango-esque melody.