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Home > Composers Datebook > Adolphe's "Tyrannosaurus Sue"


	Podcast:		Composers Datebook
	Episode:		Adolphe's "Tyrannosaurus Sue"
	Category:		Health
	Duration:		00:01:59
	Publish Date:		2018-05-21 00:00:00
	Description:		Popular as the imaginary purple dinosaur named “Barney” might be with American kids, in the 1990s he got some competition from another T-Rex named “Sue.” Sue was the nearly complete fossilized skeleton of a female T-Rex discovered in South Dakota, named after the woman who found her, a paleontologist, named Susan Hendrickson. “Sue” – the dinosaur, that is – ended up as a major display at the Field Museum in Chicago. As part of the festivities surrounding the opening of the exhibit, on today’s date in the year 2000, the Chicago Chamber Musicians premiered a musical work that told Sue’s story in words and music. It was designed for children, very much in the style of “Peter and the Wolf,” or, in this case, “Sue EATS Peter, the wolf, and anything else she can catch.” The music was composed by the American composer Bruce Adolphe, who titled his work, “Tyrannosaurus Sue: A Cretaceous Concerto.” Bruce Adolphe was a good choice for the project for, in addition to being a composer, author, educator and performer, Adolphe admits to being a big kid at heart, eager to share his enthusiasm for music with audiences of all ages. Bruce Adolphe has served as Music and Education Advisor for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and as the founding creative director of Polly Rhythm Productions, a music education company. Adolphe’s “Cretaceous Concerto” has been performed by other chamber groups around the country, accompanying a life-size cast of the real “Tyrannosarus Sue” that has toured the country.
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