Nathaniel Stookey is an American classical music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. He is the youngest composer ever commissioned for the San Francisco Symphony

San Francisco Symphony

The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...

's New and Unusual Music Series. He collaborated with children's book author Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler . Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional...

 on the work The Composer Is Dead

The Composer is Dead

The Composer Is Dead is a composition for narrator and orchestra, released both as a musical recording and as a book with a CD insert, with text by Lemony Snicket, music by Nathaniel Stookey, and illustrations by Carson Ellis. It is a whodunnit about the orchestra.- Plot :The Composer Is Dead is a...

, a musical introduction to the orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 for children.

In 2007 as an artist in residence

Artist in residence

Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities allow visiting artists to stay and work so that they may apply singular focus to their art practice....

 with Norcal Waste Stystems (San Francisco's garbage company), he composed Junkestra, a classical

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 composition for thirty instruments made out of trash found at the San Francisco dump

Landfill

A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...

. Among the instruments are a plastic trash can lid, bicycle wheels, a car bumper, pots, pans, mixing bowls, serving trays, sewer pipes, deck railing, a saw, a bird cage, a shopping cart, glass bottles, and an oil drum.

External links

• movement 2 - recording hosted by Sunset Scavenger (audio file)