Palm Beach Symphony Presents A Family Concert On October 24

Palm Beach Symphony will present Eudora's Fable: The Shoe Bird, an adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winner Eudora Welty's only children's book, The Shoe Bird, at the Eissey Campus Theater at Palm Beach State College on Sunday, October 24 at 3 p.m.

Palm Beach Symphony Music Director Gerard Schwarz, who received a 2008 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Musical Album for Children" for a recording of the work, will conduct the concert.

"Eudora's Fable: The Shoe Bird is a marvelous piece for children for the delightful way it introduces the instruments of the orchestra and lends itself to additional educational opportunities that reinforce the classroom curriculum," Maestro Schwarz said. "We have created a new production with one of the top voice artists of our time, commissioned marvelous projections from an acclaimed artist and joined with other members in the community to deliver an entertaining concert that will have a lasting educational impact."

Written for children's choir, narration, and orchestra, the story is considered a fanciful fable about animals and, much like Aesop's fables, contains a moral or lesson. While describing the many birds of the story, the music introduces and expands the audience's knowledge of the orchestra instruments by featuring the auxiliary instruments of the woodwind section.

A Mississippi native, Welty was a Pulitzer Prize winner, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the first living writer at the time to be published in the Library of America series. In its review of The Shoe Bird, The New York Times stated, "Children who read this book, or hear it read aloud, will be sure to love the words and the birds. Certainly, they will love Miss Welty besides."

Fellow Mississippian Samuel Jones adapted the story to create the music and lyrics of Eudora's Fable: The Shoe Bird. Giving life to the shoe bird and his friends will be guest narrator Charlie Adler, named as one of the "Top All-Time Voice Over Artists" by Animation Magazine. The voice of one of the original Smurf characters, Adler is best known as the voice of the Decepticon Starscream in the Transformers film series and has been a featured voice character in Cow and Chicken, Tiny Toon Adventures, Rocko's Modern Life and Aahh!!! Real Monsters.

Thirty voices from the Young Singers of the Palm Beaches will appear as guest chorus to present the work that was originally commissioned and premiered by the Mississippi Boychoir with the University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. The Young Singers, Palm Beaches award winning children's choir, performs annually in two self-produced productions at the Kravis Center, as well as throughout their community and in choral festivals.

Engaging all the senses, the concert will feature larger-than-life art projections on stage designed by

Ed McGowin, who has received acclaim for his paintings, sculptures, films, and public art installations. His works are in the public collections of, among others, the Guggenheim Museum and Whitney Museum in Manhattan; the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Palm Beach Symphony will also perform the concert to students at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts on October 26. In addition, musicians from the Symphony will participate in pre-concert workshops at schools that will explore meter and musical phrases. Pre-concert workshops will be also held in collaboration with the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, which is designing and implementing age-appropriate workshops for Palm Beach upper elementary and middle school students. The schools' media specialists will receive the book to read to students before the concert and administer the workshops that will examine proverbs and idiomatic expressions from around the world that feature birds.

Palm Beach Symphony continues to expand its education and community outreach programs with children's concerts, student coaching sessions and master classes, instrument donations and free public concerts that have reached more than 57,000 students in recent years. The Symphony's outstanding educational initiatives have been made possible through the generous support of The Paul and Sandra Goldner Conservatory of Music, Lois Pope, the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation, and Mr. William Robertson.

The Eissey Campus Theater is located on the Palm Beach State College campus at 11051 Campus Drive in Palm Beach Gardens. Out of an abundance of care and concern for the health and well-being of faculty, staff, students, vendors and visitors, everyone is expected to wear a face covering or mask at all times when inside any campus facility.

Seating for the October 24 concert is general admission and ticket prices are $20 with $10 student tickets. Tickets are available online at PalmBeachSymphony.org; by phone at (561) 281-0145; or by visiting the Palm Beach Symphony Box Office, Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

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