The Runaway Bunny

The Runaway Bunny is a concerto for violin, reader and orchestra by the contemporary American composer Glen Roven, with text from the classic children's bedtime story The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown. The concerto premiered at Carnegie Hall on April 29, 2008 with Roven conducting the American Symphony Orchestra with Glenn Close narrating. Composition history Composer Glen Roven first conceived of writing a piece based on The Runaway Bunny after having seen the 2001 film Wit based on the play of the same name by Margaret Edson. In the film, The Runaway Bunny is read to Emma Thompson by Eileen Atkins. Roven's first sketches were for a concerto for violin, singer and orchestra, however upon advice of the Israeli-American violinist Ittai Shapira, (for whom the solo violin part was originally written), it was decided to replace the singer with narration integrated into the overall musical structure. The work is in a single movement, with numerous tempo changes depicting the bunny's adventures. According to the composer, The Runaway Bunny is similar to other classical concert works based on children's stories such as Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Kleinsinger's "Tubby the Tuba", Chappell's "Paddington Bear's First Concert" or Poulenc's "L'histoire de Babar." The composer has subsequently arranged the orchestral score for piano trio and piano solo. All editions are published by Bill Holab Music.