Karim Al-Zand: Music: Swimmy

Swimmy

based on the children’s book by Leo Lionni

Swimmy is a work for narrator, clarinet, piano, violin and cello based on the Caldecott Award-winning children’s book of the same name by Leo Lionni (1910–1999). The piece is performed in conjunction with a presentation of Lionni’s colorful artwork. The story involves a little black fish, Swimmy, left alone in the sea after his school is attacked by tuna. In the end, Swimmy’s bravery and ingenuity serve to overcome his predicament and protect the other fish from harm.

Swimmy was written for Ensemble Pi’s annual “Concert for Peace.” The 2010 concert addressed the theme of courage, as well as the compassion necessary to fight for one’s beliefs, and incorporated music celebrating life as risk and art as flight into another existence.