FAIRY TALES, FOLKLORE AND FABLES with Auricolae: Storytelling and Music Troupe
Instrumentation: violin, cello, and narrator
Best-loved stories from around the world are told through music and narrative to the delight of pre-school through middle school students. Active audience participation is encouraged and one of the goals of the program is to get young people thinking about different ways to tell a story; in recounting a tale, actual words can be just one piece of a puzzle. In fact, you can tell a story without speaking at all and letting the music speak for itself. Then together students can experience how music can color the text and invoke both feelings and thoughts.
Some of the group’s repertoire includes:
Ferdinand the Bull
An Adventure at Granny’s (Little Red Riding Hood)
The Rascally Rogue of the Beanstalk (Jack and the Beanstalk)*
Rumpilstilskin*
How the Toad Got his Spots (in Spanish and English)+
Three Little Pigs*
Three Fables*
The Bremen Town Musicians*
Princess and the Pea+
The Prince Rooster*
Hansel and Gretal*
The Emperor’s New Clothes+
Lubin, from Chelm*
Two Brothers*
The Princess and the Man with a Pure Heart*
(Works with * have been commissioned by Auricolae in conjunction with Musicopia and The American Composer’s Forum. Works with + were commissioned by the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival.)
Auricolae Residencies have a strong literacy component. After seeing Auricolae perform, students of all ages (including pre-literate) create their own story/libretto and, over the course of multiple visits, explore how to set their own text to music. This residency can also have an arts and craft element with students making sets and props. The final concert involves the students in a semi-theatrical performance reading text and music they wrote themselves.Auricolae: Storytelling and Music Troupe
Instrumentation: violin, cello, and narrator
ASSEMBLIES & PROGRAMS Music for Pre-school/Kindergarten and Lower/Elementary School Assemblies
Ferdinand the Bull
An Adventure at Granny’s (Little Red Riding Hood)
The Rascally Rogue of the Beanstalk (Jack and the Beanstalk)
Three Little Pigs How the Toad Got his Spots (in Spanish and English)
The Bremen Town Musicians
Princess and the Pea
The Prince Rooster
Music for Middle School Assemblies
Rumpilstilskin
Three Fables
Hansel and Gretal
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Lubin, from Chelm
Two Brothers
The Princess and the Man with a Pure Heart
Music for “Tales from the East” – a Jewish/Klezmer storytelling odyssey
These tales all stem from Eastern Europe and employ extensive yiddishkeit in the classic hilarious Catskills manner
The Prince Rooster
Hansel and Gretal
Lubin, from Chelm
Two Brothers
Music for Storytelling from around the world
Tales representing the beautiful diversity and universality
SPAIN – Ferdinand the Bull
EUROPE – Jack and the Beanstalk
INDONESIA – The Princess & Man with a Pure Heart
ARGENTINA – How the Toad Got his Spots (Spanish version also available)
EUROPE – Three Little Pigs
GERMANY – The Bremen Town Musicians
DENMARK – Princess and the Pea
JEWISH – The Prince Rooster
of folk tales
GERMANY – Hansel and Gretal
DENMARK – The Emperor’s New Clothes
JEWISH – Lubin, from Chelm
Incoming works: EGYPT – The Black Prince (2012)
NEPAL – story TBA (2013)
CHINA – The Five Brothers (2013)
INDIA – Riki Tiki Tavi (2013)
Auricolae: Storytelling and Music Troupe
Instrumentation: violin, cello, and narrator
DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME OF OUR STORIES:
Ferdinand the Bull
The beloved tale of a peace-loving bull in Spain accompanied by a flamboyant virtuoso solo violin.
The Prince Rooster
The traditional Jewish story of a Prince who thinks he is a chicken and the doctor who cures him.
An Adventure at Granny’s (Little Red Riding Hood)
In this classic adventure, the audience gets to practice their wolf-howl at a key moment
How the Toad Got his Spots (in Spanish and English by Martin Kutnowski)
A circus-like Argentinean tale of a toad who dared to dream
The Rascally Rogue of the Beanstalk (Jack & the Beanstalk)
The classic story with a twist – the audience gets to choose from one of four alternate endings
Three Fables
Short, fantastical poems and dreamy music based on the whimsical works of the poet Robert Lax
Rumpilstilskin
An atonal version of the twisted familiar folk tale
Lubin, from Chelm
A hilarious Klezmer romp through the tale of a lazy boy who did not want to work
The Princess and the Man with a Pure Heart
A young woman is the heroine at the center of this stunning tale from Indonesia which asks the audience to count in the ancient tongue Sanskrit at several points.
RECORDINGS AND MEDIA
Auricolae: Storytelling and Music Troupe
Instrumentation: violin, cello, and narrator
• Auricolae’s first studio album is available at New Focus Recordings (as well as Amazon, iTunes, and CD Baby)
http://www.newfocusrecordings.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76&Itemid=133
• CD Review from Audiophile Audition http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=7462
• Auricolae can be seen in a video on You Tube (Frederickton, Canada) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgltWgy3FM4
• Auricolae has been on the roster for Musicopia since 2001 http://www.musicopia.net/musicians/ensembles/ensemble.php?id=1
Auricolae: Storytelling and Music Troupe
Instrumentation: violin, cello, and narrator
*
Violist, narrator, composer and director of Auricolae, DAVID YANG has collaborated with members of the Audubon, Borromeo, Brentano, Lark, Muir and Tokyo String Quartets, amongst others. He is Music Director of the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival near Boston, MA and Founder of the Philadelphia Viola Society with a successful career that has led him all over North America and Europe. He also is director of chamber music at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the award-winning string trio Ensemble Epomeo. David is a staunch advocate of new music and has commissioned dozens of works. He was born and raised in New York City and now lives in South Philly with his two daughters, Eliana and Alessandra. When not practicing viola and hanging out with his children, he enjoys following professional cycling and eating anything with lots of garlic in it. David’s father was born in China in Xuzhou (near Shanghai) and came to America before World War II. His mother comes from a Jewish family in Brooklyn that came over from Poland, Austria, and Russia at the turn of the 20th Century. His various other pursuits have led him to acquire a Master’s Degree in architecture and work as a bicycle messenger in Manhattan, a fossil hunter in the Utah desert, a bartender, and a carpenter (not all at the same time!).
