Led by Stilian Kirov, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra makes its debut on Cedille Records with the world premiere recordings of Michael Abels’s Frederick’s Fables and Augusta Read Thomas’s Gwendolyn Brooks Settings. These works were adapted from short stories by celebrated children’s author and illustrator Leo Lionni and the poetry of former U.S. Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks. Frederick’s Fables, which features narration, was premiered by the late James Earl Jones. The narrator for Children’s Stories is Michael Sumuel, who has been heard as a bass-baritone soloist with Chicago Opera Theater, Music of the Baroque, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Gwendolyn Brooks Settings draws upon text from Brooks’s Bronzeville Boys and Girls and features Anima – Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus and the ChiArts Chamber Choir.