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 typically performed in conjunction with a presentation of Lionni’s colorful artwork from the 1963 picture book. A little black fish, Swimmy, is left alone in the sea after his school is attacked by a tuna. Swimmy perseveres and explores the ocean and, in the end, his bravery and ingenuity help overcome his predicament.

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