PB Symphony's 'Shoe Bird' broadcast seen by nearly 115 million people

A Palm Beach Symphony televised presentation of an orchestral work for children has been broadcast to almost 115 million people since March, the orchestra says.

Samuel Jones’ "Eudora’s Fable: The Shoe Bird," set to a children’s story by the celebrated American writer Eudora Welty, has been seen on public television stations in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, and states including Georgia, North Dakota, Oregon and West Virginia. Viewership is estimated at 114.7 million.

"The Shoe Bird," which concerns what happens when a parrot in a shoe store talks to other birds about whether they should try on some footwear, is Welty’s only children’s story, and was published in 1964. Composer Jones set it to music as a device for introducing young people to the instruments of the orchestra.

Gerard Schwarz, music director of the Palm Beach Symphony, received a Grammy Award nomination for a recording of the piece with the Seattle Symphony in 2008. The broadcast seen on public television stations nationwide features a 2021 Palm Beach Symphony performance of the work, led by Schwarz, narrated by Charlie Adler and featuring the Young Singers of the Palm Beaches as a guest chorus.

“We are thrilled to see the response of stations around the country to this joyous program that makes orchestral music accessible to young audiences,” said Palm Beach Symphony CEO David McClymont.

McClymont said the Palm Beach Symphony will soon make available to PBS a broadcast of Prokofiev’s "Peter and the Wolf," made last year in English and Spanish versions with singer Jon Secada. "Peter and the Wolf," like "The Shoe Bird," is a children’s work that introduces children to orchestral instruments.

Later this season, the orchestra will present another children’s concert, this one called “The Carnival of More Animals.” Featuring French composer Camille Saint-Saëns’ beloved “zoological fantasy,” "The Carnival of the Animals," as rearranged by Schwarz, the concert will be narrated by Forrest Galante, host of “Alive or Extinct” on the Animal Planet channel.

Interspersed with the music will be science topics related to animals found in Florida, their environment and conservation. The multimedia concert will include video and photos of animals filmed at the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.

The 2021 broadcast, the "Peter and the Wolf" concert, and the upcoming event are all part of the symphony's Dale A. McNulty Children's Concert Series.

The concert is set for 3 p.m. Oct. 7, at the Eissey Campus Theatre on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens. Tickets for the show, which will be preceded by a live animal meet-and-greet, are $20, with $10 for students.

For more information, call the Palm Beach Symphony at 561-655-2657 or visit www.palmbeachsymphony.org.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Palm Beach Symphony says 115M have seen 'Shoe Bird' broadcast