Gaspard’s Christmas
Gaspard’s Christmas is the fourth book in the series and the second to receive an orchestral concert adaptation by Jonathan Dove CBE. The world premiere concert at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra was a sell-out.
Zeb narrates his story, 'Jackanory' style, with James Mayhew’s Illustrations, accompanied by Jonathan Dove’s magical score, performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. (30 mins.)
Listen to the single ‘Christmas is Here’
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Gaspard’s Foxtrot
The third book in the Gaspard series was conceived as new narrated concert work for orchestra with music by Jonathan Dove, in the tradition of Peter and the Wolf. It was embraced by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra as a lockdown project. Their concerts, narrated by Zeb Soanes with a specially commissioned film, projected above the orchestra, were seen by over 100,000 Scottish school children in the space of a single year — a truly remarkable achievement. As a result, Gaspard is firmly established and loved north of Hadrian’s Wall.
Animated concert film, made by Visible Fictions for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Spring Tour, 2022. (32 mins.)
Watch James Mayhew illustrate Gaspard’s Foxtrot live on stage with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. (2 min.)
Children in Dundee respond enthusiastically as Zeb introduces the characters in the story. (2 min.)
Watch The Making of Gaspard’s Foxtrot - How the Royal Scottish National Orchestra introduced Gaspard to over 100,000 Scottish Schoolchildren during the pandemic. (13 mins.)
Trailer for Gaspard’s Foxtrot. (1 min.)
The Creatives
“A formidable trio of talents”
— The Times
Jonathn Dove, Zeb Soanes and James Mayhew at the launch of Gaspard’s Christmas at St Martin-in-the-Fields
Jonathan Dove CBE
Composer
Throughout his career, Jonathan has made a serious commitment to community development through innovative musical projects. Tobias and the Angel, a 75-minute opera written in 1999, brings together children, community choirs, and professional singers and musicians in a vivid and moving retelling of the Book of Tobit. His 2012 opera Life is a Dream, written for Birmingham Opera Company, was performed by professionals and community choruses in a disused Birmingham warehouse. 2015 brought the world premiere of The Monster in the Maze, a community opera co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, premiered under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle in three separate translations and productions. The Monster in the Maze has since been performed around the world, translated further into Taiwanese, Portuguese, Swedish and Catalan, and received a BASCA British Composer Award in 2016’s ‘Amateur and Young Performers’ category.
His work for children and family audiences, Gaspard’s Foxtrot, based on the book by Zeb Soanes with illustrations by James Mayhew, was co-commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra, Three Choirs Festival Association, Docklands Sinfonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Royal Scottish National Orchestra and premiered in 2019. A film of the work, featuring the RSNO with Zeb Soanes alongside moving illustrations from the book, had already been seen by 104,000 children in 2022. A second musical tale, Gaspard’s Christmas, commissioned by the RSNO, premiered in Dec 2022.
Jonathan Dove won the 2008 Ivor Novello Award for classical music and was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's 2019 Birthday Honours for services to music.
Zeb Soanes
Author
Zeb studied Drama and Creative Writing at UEA. He began his career as an actor before joining the BBC in 1998 where, for 25 years, he became an authoritative newsreader and reassuring voice of the Shipping Forecast to millions of listeners on BBC Radio 4. He announced some of the biggest events in recent years from the final result of the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump to the unfolding of the Coronavirus pandemic. He was a regular fixture on The News Quiz, reported for From Our Own Correspondent and presented BBC Radio 3’s Saturday Classics.
Sunday Times readers voted him their favourite male voice on UK radio. On television, his was the first voice to launch BBC Four, where he appeared as a presenter for the BBC Proms.
Zeb is now the presenter of Relaxing Evenings with Zeb Soanes weeknightly from 7pm on Classic FM, the UK’s most popular classical music station.
Described by the Telegraph as ‘the go-to person for music narration’, Zeb performs with the UK’s leading orchestras, narrating children’s classics such as Peter and the Wolf and technically demanding recited works such as Walton's Façade, which he recorded to critical acclaim with John Wilson.
He has written for The Observer, Country Life and the Literary Review.
His fourth book in the Gaspard the Fox series, Gaspard’s Christmas gently tackles the issue of homelessness and, inspired by J.M. Barrie’s bequest of his Peter Pan royalties to Great Ormand Street Children’s Hospital, Zeb has gifted royalties from the book sales of Gaspard’s Christmas in perpetuity to support the work of St Martin-in-the-Fields, helping people across the UK out of homelessness.
James Mayhew
Illustrator
James Mayhew lives in the Suffolk countryside, surrounded by wild animals and nature, with big skies, full of light - perfect for artists. Aside from the Gaspard the Fox series, his other titles for independent Welsh publisher Graffeg are: The Knight Who Took All Day (adapted as a work for narrator and orchestra by Bernard Hughes) and illustrations for the Mouse and Mole series (by Joyce Dunbar), animated for television with the voices of Alan Bennett and Richard Briers.
He is also the creator of the Katie art books and Ella Bella Ballerina series. He has worked with many orchestras and musicians including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, painting illustrations live on stage to performances of classical music, including The Firebird, Scheherazade and Pictures at an Exhibition.
A winner of the 1994 New York Times prize for illustration, his many other titles include Koshka’s Tales and illustrations for Mrs Noah’s Pockets (by Jackie Morris).
James makes all his illustrations with traditional tools, mainly using pen and ink, and watercolours. He created his own new shade of ink especially for teh Gaspard the Fox books, which he calls ‘Gaspard Red’.
He was recently awarded the inaugural Polari Children's & YA Prize for his illustrations for Nen and the Lonely Fisherman which the judges described as ‘truly stunning.’
Merchandise
Zeb Soanes and his illustrator, James Mayhew hold all merchandising rights, so took it upon themselves to develop a Gaspard the Fox plush toy to faithfully reproduce James’ beautiful pen-and-ink illustrations. They approached London’s oldest independent toyshop, Benjamin Pollocks of Covent Garden, to distribute the toys worldwide.
— Pollocks were delighted to report recently that the Fantastic Mr Fox director Wes Anderson popped in and bought one!
World famous for their beautiful toy theatres, Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop has been selling creative, theatrical and educational toys that nurture storytelling to adults and children for over 100 years.
Gaspard the REAL Fox
Zeb, Gaspard and the folding bicycle
Meet the real Gaspard in this short BBC News story
In 2017 an injured fox appeared outside Zeb's London home. Zeb encouraged it back to health and it continued to visit each night, recognising the sound of Zeb’s folding bicycle when he arrived home from work. So trusting became the relationship that the two would sit together on the doorstep, watching the world go by, to the amazement of neighbours. Photos of these nightly encounters spread across the internet, prompting press interest from as far afield as the USA and New Delhi. One weekend, on a long train journey, Zeb began the first story in what has now become the series of much-loved Gaspard the Fox adventures.
Recording the Audiobooks
Zeb has recorded the first two books in the series as audiobooks, available on Audible with original music by Chris Warner. The orchestral concert recordings of books three and four, with music by Jonathan Dove are available on all music streaming platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify.
Zeb recording the audiobook for Gaspard Best in Show
Education
The educational potential of Gaspard and friends became clear during the Coronovirus lockdowns. Zeb created a series of homemade YouTube films called Gaspard’s Den, filmed entirely on his iPhone. Each episode grew increasingly ambitious, featuring puppetry and original music provided by locked-down friends, keen to help. Gaspard’s Den was being timetabled by schools alongside PE with Joe Wicks and daily readings by David Walliams as part of their online education offering. Regular features were Peter the Cat’s BIG Word, introducing children to vocabulary and a gallery of children’s paintings, sent from enthusiastic parents and schools as far afield as Australia and the USA.
Peter the Cat’s BIG WORDS
Gaspard's Den introduced children to the regular feature 'Peter the Cat's BIG WORD' in which Peter shows off his large vocabulary. It proved so popular that it led to the publication of the spin-off book Peter the Cat's Little Book of BIG Words. This could easily translate to a short insert on Children’s TV.
Watch the first episode of Peter the Cat's BIG WORD, released during the first Coronovirus lock-down to encourage children to follow government advice to 'wash your hands.'
Spin-off book: Peter the Cat’s Little Book of BIG Words (Graffeg, November 2023)
Fox Factsheet
Since the earliest fables, foxes were portrayed in literature as sly, cunning tricksters. Zeb was keen to write Gaspard as faithfully as he had observed the foxes in his own neighbourhood — as curious, gentle creatures with as much right to inhabit the city as the worms in the soil or the birds in the trees.
He created a free factsheet for parents and schools to download and display.
It was produced in partnership with the Mammal Society, who made Zeb their first patron in recognition of his efforts to ‘culturally rehabilitate the urban fox.’
