By Stephen Sokolouski, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

Leopold, the host of next week’s SPCO Family Concert on November 15 at the Ordway Music Theater, is a leopard obsessed with the movie Frozen. He’ll be joined by a talking tree named Tree to recount the tale of The Great Chipmunk Picnic, taking our young audience members on a journey through the nature settings depicted in Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony.

We’re pretty excited about this collaboration with Leopold and his creator, Los Angeles-based puppeteer Victor Yerrid. Victor is a renowned puppeteer and actor whose work in children’s television includes Sesame Street, Sid The Science Kid, Hannah Montana, Pajanimals, ​Bear In The Big Blue House, and Between The Lions.

He’s also a friend of SPCO Concertmaster Steven Copes, from their time together at the Curtis Institute of Music. Erin Jude, our Director of Education and Community Engagement, explains how the collaboration came about:

For some time now, Steve has put a bug in my ear about his “friend who does puppets,” how funny he was and what a great SPCO Family Concert he could help create. I will admit that the first vision that popped into my head was a guy with hand puppets behind one of those cardboard scenes. It turns out he meant SERIOUS puppets, like Sesame Street level puppets. Victor Yerrid and Steve met as students at the Curtis Institute. Victor is a percussionist whose career path has led him to a life of puppetry and acting. We finally have had the opportunity to pursue this collaboration and it has resulted in a wonderfully unique and funny concert that makes amazing use of Beethoven’s Pastoral.

How unique and funny? Check out these trailers. Click here for tickets + information.