The Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra will make its commercial recording debut on Cedille Records Nov. 15 with the release of “Children’s Stories.” It will include recordings of Michael Abels’s “Frederick’s Fables” and Augusta Read Thomas’s “Gwendolyn Brooks Settings.”
The works were adapted from short stories by celebrated children’s author and illustrator Leo Lionni and the poetry of former U.S. Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks, respectively. Joining the orchestra in this recording are narrator Michael Sumuel in “Frederick’s Fables” and youth choirs Anima, Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus, and ChiArts Chamber Choir in “Gwendolyn Brooks Settings.”
Michael Abels co-wrote the Pulitzer prize-winning opera “Omar” with Rhiannon Giddens and is celebrated for his scores for Jordan Peele’s films, including the Oscar-winning “Get Out.” Abels has garnered Grammy and Emmy nominations and was short-listed for an Oscar for his score for “Us.” Most recently, Abels wrote the music for Disney’s new Star Wars series, “The Acolyte.”
Augusta Read Thomas was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s longest-serving Composer-in-Residence (1997–2006) and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music. The American Academy of Arts and Letters described Thomas as “one of the most recognizable and widely loved figures in American Music.”
IPO posted a trailer for the album on YouTube.