The Great Enormo, a kerfuffle in B flat for narrator, orchestra, wasps and soprano, saw its third performance on 27 October 2013 at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. The audience-interactive work to a text by Michael Rosen, and with music by Morgan Pochin was performed by Michael Rosen (narrator), Juliette Pochin (soprano), and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, all conducted by James Morgan. The 50-minute creation was originally commissioned by the Brighton Festival and premiered there on 4 May 2013. The work lends itself perfectly as an introduction to the orchestra for young people, and encourages interaction with musical fun and madness. See a video of Michael Rosen talking about the piece here.
There are versions of The Great Enormo for both full orchestra and chamber orchestra. Perusal materials are available on request from musicfornow@fabermusic.com.
The next performance takes place at the Royal Festival Hall, London on 22 February 2014.
‘The Brighton Festival guest director, Michael Rosen, wants to compose a theme tune for Mr Enormo Biggins’s Great Fun Park. The Great Enormo is an amazing new theme park that allows its visitors to travel through time on fantastically fun rides. Michael needs your help to coax, cajole and bully the orchestra into producing a great piece so you can win free tickets to the theme park. As he jumps from the medieval to the jazz age, from the Wild West to intergalactic space, will the viola player get his solo? And who is the soprano who keeps turning up unexpectedly?’
Brighton Festival, The Great Enormo Programme (Alison Lathom), May 2013
‘Rosen encouraged the audience to help him compose a theme tune for the fictional Mr Enormo Biggins’ Great Fun Park.
We were taken on a musical version of a time machine and the orchestra donned pirate hats, swimming goggles, stetsons and sunglasses as the music leapt from the wild west to intergalactic space.
There were a few pantomime moments as Rosen invited youngsters to throw imaginary orange pips at pirates, make the sound of killer bees and even a soupçon of “oh no it isn’t!”.
… the concert was a great way of introducing families to the city’s fabulous orchestra.’
Coventry Telegraph (Sarah Probert), 29 October 2013
‘… a new, interactive young person’s guide to the orchestra.
The Great Enormo takes families on a musical journey through Mr Enormo Biggins’ time-travelling Theme Park in search of a theme tune. The audience will travel to the wild west, intergalactic space, a pirate ship and 1950’s New York.
“We are looking to compose a theme tune for Mr Enormo Biggins’ Great Theme Park. It is fabulous fun – a new theme park that allows its visitors to travel through time,” Michael explains.
“It’s very interactive. We get the children and adults to be killer wasps and buzz. When we travel to 1953 Manhattan they help us with an early rap. We have a big sea fight and throw orange pips at pirates.”
… But the former children’s laureate admits writing a new young person’s guide to the orchestra was a “challenge” – as he is not particularly musical.
Luckily he was assisted by talented husband-and-wife team James Morgan and Juliette Pochin – a conductor and soprano – who have also written music for The Kumars at No.42, Katherine Jenkins and Dustin Hoffman’s first film as a director, Quartet.’
Coventry Telegraph (Catherine Vonledebur), 18 October 2013