Any child whose parent sings him or her a lullaby is lucky indeed. Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers wanted to do something particularly special for her daughter, Natalie.
"In 2010 when I was pregnant with my first daughter, Natalie, my husband thought it would be a supreme surprise to ask John [Corigliano] to write a lullaby in her honor," Anne says, "And he wrote one of the most gorgeous, lush, beautiful lullabies … that Natalie now today at four years old just has on repeat every night. From nine at night till seven in the morning till she gets up, that track is just playing all throughout the night."
Anne performs Corigliano's piece — titled simply, "Lullaby for Natalie" — on her 2014 album, The American Masters, which was featured on New Classical Tracks.
After commissioning the piece and performing it, Anne decided to take the music to another level. "I held a contest actually to have filmmakers make a video about the lullaby for Natalie," Anne says. "There were two winning entrants at the end that won the contest."
One of the winners, Timo Henson, created a fable-type story in which Anne performs in the video. "Then little Natalie is a baby and then she grows up and she ends up performing with me," Anne explains.
The action is portrayed as if one is reading a book of fairy tales. Anne is seen performing in a magic doorway that opens onto a wood where stands a small house. Inside the house, we encounter Natalie as a sleeping baby; as time progresses, Natalie grows to an age where she can perform alongside her mother. "Every time we watch, my daughter goes, 'I don't want to leave that house, let's play together for ever'," Anne says.
The video is posted to Anne Akiko Meyers's official YouTube channel. You can also watch it right here. The music and story are lovely; so lovely, in fact, you may want to have a tissue nearby.
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