Harpsichord Diaries is a lush 44 page hardcover children’s book that will also enchant adults; especially music lovers. Durham-based and world renowned harpsichordist Elaine Funaro wrote the story—which involves twenty eccentric characters, four harpsichords, and numerous events in history taking place over five centuries— in haiku. The adventure begins when a child, Elena, discovers a magical book in her grandmother’s attic that transports her on an amazing journey through momentous historical events through five centuries.

Elaine’s daughter, the amazing stop motion animator Andrea Love made the watercolor illustrations, and the book is accompanied by a lush digipak CD we also produced. This features a 15 minute long dramatic reading of the story with sound effects by created by Andrea’s twin brother Eric Love (who is a Broadway actor and theater director), and an imaginative 50 minute audio play created by Eric as well.

The book contains ‘bios’ of the harpsichords (one of which was painted by Lisa Creed, a friend of Elaine’s and an artist with work in our galleries) as well as bios of the collaborators. It also includes a short essay by Elaine chronicling some of her early influences that propelled her into an adventurous musical career that included her one woman show A Nod to the 90s, which featured historical stories paired with harpsichord music from over 400 years, and laid the groundwork for this book, a gift to the next generation of musicians and appreciators of music and history.

The book features a sewn binding with endsheet illustrations printed in full color and sells for $20, or you can buy the book and CD together for $25. The play is available for free as an audio download on the book’s website, but you don’t get the physical digipak which itself is a beautiful and intimate artifact.