7 paintings + 7 stories = 7 world premieres” was a community engagement project between MISO and the children of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami Dade County. Over eight visits with MISO musicians, the children enjoyed live performances, painted watercolors, and combined their artwork to create stories. Video by Fernando Duprat displayed the watercolors and the children’s charming narration of their stories.
Inspired by the children’s’ work, three of MISO’s six composers-in-residence – Sam Hyken, Orlando Garcia, and Tulio Cremisini – contributed six miniatures, with MISO music director Eduardo Marturet providing the seventh.
Most tried to illustrate the stories, including Hyken channeling John Williams for The Adventures of Indiana Penguin, and Marturet quoting Offenbach’s Can-Can to suggest a grand party in Wizard Turtle. Less programmatic and more enchanting was Orlando Garcia’s The Boy and the Magical Flower with delicately shifting, swelling colors complementing swirls in the projected watercolors. More here