A MUSICIAN from Wotton under Edge is hopeful that performances of his new orchestral piece, based on a much loved children’s story, will go ahead this Christmas.

Four years ago, composer and conductor Philip Mackenzie was reading the Gruffalo to his then three year old son when he had the idea for writing a piece of music based on the book.

Created by author Julia Donaldson, The Gruffalo is a wonderful tale of a mouse who comes face to face with a monster from his own imagination.

Philip decided to write his new piece in the style of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, in that each character in the tale is represented by a different instrument of the orchestra.

“Whereas Prokofiev used standard orchestral instruments for each character in Peter, I opted to use the peripheral instruments from the woodwind section, so the mouse becomes the piccolo, the snake the cor anglais, the fox the high Eb clarinet and the Gruffalo the contra-bassoon - like a bassoon but twice as big and twice as low,” he said.

Philip’s version of the Gruffalo is set to be premiered in London as part of a series of socially distanced family concerts for the run-up to Christmas, which will also feature The Snowman and Kipling’s Just so stories.

“Since March 23, all theatres and concert halls in the UK have been shut as a precaution against COVID-19,” said Philip.

“Musicians have had very little work since then, at most some recording sessions and outdoor sessions.

“I know one conductor of West End shows, who has been working as an Amazon delivery driver, and I know a viola player from the Welsh National Orchestra who is cleaning out stables and delivering fish and chips now.

“So the players are going to be so excited to be back.”

The Mozart Symphony Orchestra will be giving six performances of the show, which is entitled The Gruffalo and The Snowman, at Chelsea’s Cadogan Hall, on December 21 and 22, and each performance will only be able to accommodate one third of the usual numbers to comply with COVID 19 rules.

Details via: cadoganhall.com