Kitten on the keys, or Nora the Explorer

Somehow I missed hearing about Nora, the piano-playing cat, who first surfaced on YouTube in 2007. A man in Lithuania, where the nights are long and there is apparently very little to do, has now composed an astonishing piece of music that uses video clips of Nora. Here it is:

CATcerto by Lithuanian composer Mindaugus Piečaitis, conducted by Mindaugus Piečaitis, soloist: Nora the Cat

The world premiere was performed in the Klaipėda Concert Hall in Klaipėda, Lithuania, on June 5, 2009. A second performance of CATcerto occurred earlier this year at the Hot Springs Music Festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on June 14, 2010. We can only hope that our blogging friend Pat, an Arkansas stamper, was in attendance that evening. Perhaps, if you begin a letter-writing campaign now, Catcerto will come soon to a town near you.

To learn more about the sort of person who could or would write a catcerto, click here.

Actually, I think the cat, the composer, and the composition are all remarkable.