Martin Suckling’s The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse, a fable in music for children and families, appears at Kings Place on 23 November. Based on the book by Mac Barnett and illustrator Jon Klassen, Suckling’s piece reimagines their story as a musical adventure that introduces young children to orchestral music and instruments in a playful and engaging way, as well as making lavish use of Klassen’s illustrations. The 40-minute work, performed by Aurora Orchestra, will be directed by Poppy Burton-Morgan and conducted by Chloe Rooke.

The story is a sequel of sorts to Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf ­­­– a mouse is swallowed by a wolf, only to discover that he’s not alone: a duck is already installed in the belly of the beast. It turns out life inside a wolf is pretty good – and they no longer have to fear being eaten up. Suckling first encountered Barnett and Klassen’s book on one of his regular trips to London for meetings at Faber Music.

As with Peter and the Wolf, the characters in the story are associated with different instruments of the orchestra.  The duck (aloof, slightly aristocratic) is represented by the cor anglais; the skittish mouse by the piccolo.  The sorrowful wolf is paired with the trombone, and late on a pipe-smoking hunter puffs through the bassoon. The piece is scored for single woodwinds, three horns, trumpet, trombone, two percussionists, and amplified single strings or small unamplified forces.

Suckling’s score includes lively instances of audience participation – body percussion, dancing – as well as singing in the orchestra (led by the narrator) and an army of Frog Güiros. The piece is available in multimedia and concert versions, and the interactive points in the point are and open to adaptation, elaboration, and omission, depending on audience and forces.

The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse was premiered in March 2023 by Geoffrey Paterson and Aurora Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall; it was commissioned by Aurora with the support of the Vaughan Williams Foundation.