{{Primary sources, date=August 2010 ''Maximus Musicus'' is an Icelandic children's franchise, including books, CDs, DVDs and family concert programs, aimed at introducing symphonic music to children. The story and part of the music was written by Hallfríður Ólafsdóttir, principal flautist of the

Iceland Symphony Orchestra Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) (ISO) is an Icelandic orchestra based in Reykjavík. Its primary concert venue is the Harpa (concert hall), Harpa Concert Hall. The Iceland Symphony is an autonomous public institution u ...

. The books are illustrated by Þórarinn Már Baldursson, a violist in the

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

. Conductor and pianist

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, ...

is the program's patron.

Books

The first book introduces Maximus, a mouse that finds his way into a concert hall, and enjoys many adventures as he explores the world of the symphonic orchestra rehearsing there. It was first published in Iceland in 2008 along with an audio CD. The second book of the series tells of Maximus exploring a school of music. It was published in 2010 along with an audio CD.

Concerts

Each story of Maximus is designed to be performed by a full symphonic orchestra, a narrator and silent actor playing the part of Maximus. Accompanying the performance are illustrations from the books, projected to an onstage screen. The story is told to an abridged

Boléro ''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. It is one of Ravel's most famous compositions. It was also one of his last completed works before illness diminished his ability to write music. Composition T ...

, the first movement of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

’s Fifth and

Copland Copland may refer to: * Copland (crater), on Mercury * Copland (operating system) * Copland (surname) * Copland River in New Zealand * 4532 Copland, an asteroid named after Aaron Copland * Aaron Copland, American composer See also * Copeland (dis ...

’s

Fanfare for the Common Man ''Fanfare for the Common Man'' is a musical work by the American composer Aaron Copland. It was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens and was inspired in part by a speech made earlier that yea ...

as well as Maxi’s Song, composed by author Hallfríður, and the Icelandic all-time favourite “

Á Sprengisandi Á, á ( a- acute) is a letter of the Chinese (Pinyin), Blackfoot, Czech, Dobrujan Tatar, Dutch, Faroese, Filipino, Galician, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Karakalpak, Lakota, Navajo, Occitan, Portuguese, Sámi, Slovak, Spanish, Vietnames ...

” by

Sigvaldi Kaldalóns Sigvaldi Kaldalóns (Stefánsson) (13 January 1881 – 28 July 1946) was an Icelandic composer and doctor. Unlike the avant-garde composers of his day, he wrote in a traditional romantic style and composed many of Iceland's most famous and widel ...

Reception

Maximus Musicus became very popular upon introduction in Iceland in 2008 and was both financially and critically successful for both authors and the ISO, as the family-concerts were uniformly sold out. The second installment became no less of a success on its release in 2010. Maximus Musicus has gained international attention as the program has been translated from the Icelandic into English, German, Dutch, Portuguese (Brasil) and Korean. The series is published domestically by Forlagið and internationally by Schott. The concert program has been performed live in Iceland, the Netherlands, Germany, the US and Australia.

External links

MaximusMusicus.com

Maximus on Facebook
Icelandic books