Narrated by international soprano Dame Felicity Lott and illustrated by Poulenc’s enchanting piano music. A wonderful way to introduce children to live music in a real theatre. The performance was followed by a screening of Babar’s Triumph, an episode from the 1989 animated TV series.

The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant is a composition for piano and narrator by Francis Poulenc, based on the hugely popular picture book by Jean de Brunhoff, which was published in 1931 and rapidly became a French children’s classic. The enchanting music, performed by pianist Matthew Fletcher, is based on Poulenc’s improvisations inspired by his young cousins who, bored with his practising, placed the book on the piano and asked him to ‘play the story’.

We were delighted to welcome one of the greatest interpreters of Poulenc’s vocal music, international soprano Dame Felicity Lott to narrate the story.

You can listen to the interview Dame Felicity Lott and Noa Lachman did with Hailsham FM.