The Viola Concerto
or “Cinderella Goes to Music School”
This piece, for narrator, viola soloist, and orchestra (3.3.3.2 – 4.3.3.1 – tp+2 – hp – pno – str) is a retelling of the Cinderella fairytale set in a music conservatory. It’s written for large orchestra and gets around to introducing every one of the instruments, with a special emphasis on the oft-neglected viola. It lasts just a little over 30 minutes.
The solo viola part really needs to be played by a young woman in order to make the show work dramatically. Ideally the flute and oboe soloists should also be young women. All of the featured performers need to be able to poke a little fun at their instruments’ particular foibles. There are many dramatic possibilities for the performance of this piece, largely dependent upon how game/creative the performers are.
(An option if you don’t have an all female “cast”: use images projected over the orchestra to convey the story element visually. Have the orchestra, including all the soloists, dress in black and play with stand lights.)
I’m offering this for what I consider to be the very reasonable rental and royalty package $150, with an additional royalty of $50 per performance.