Captain Noah
21st June 2011
Vienna-born, Horovitz - now 85 - was recently invited to take part in a performance of Captain Noah at the Akademisches Gymnasium, the school which he had to leave when the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938. He was then a boy of eleven, the same age as the youngest members of the present school choir, when he escaped to England.
It is now over forty years since he composed Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo to words by Michael Flanders. Since then it has been sung all over the world in six different languages, danced as a ballet, broadcast on radio and TV, and made into an animated film, winning an “Ivor” in 1975 as the best British music for children.
One of its most recent performances was in Westminster Cathedral Hall and featured over one hundred primary schoolchildren singing together with the Bach Choir, conducted by David Hill, as part of their Outreach programme with London schools.
The BBC Light Fantastic Festival on Radio 3 this summer also features Captain Noah, sung by the BBC Singers conducted by Paul Brough.
Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo sung by the King’s Singers
Dutton Vocalion CDLF 8210
