A new orchestral work
Babe:
Elaboratio
A Tribute to My Mother
Harry Connick, Jr.
He turned down Carnegie Hall for his entire career. He finally said yes on what would have been his mother’s 100th birthday — to fulfill her dream that her tiny piano prodigy would one day play there.
The Story
A life, scored in three movements
In Babe: Elaboratio, Harry Connick, Jr. pays tribute to his mother, Anita-Francis Livingston Connick — known to everyone as “Babe” — whom he lost when he was only thirteen.
Her story unfolds as a symphony, rich with emotion and layered with history. From her early childhood in New York, to the serendipitous meeting with her husband in Morocco, to a career as one of the first female judges in New Orleans, Babe’s life was a testament of love, determination and wisdom.
Written to accompany his first-ever Carnegie Hall performance, Connick unpacks the emotional journey of the composition — revealing the memories and musical significance hidden in the measures of his orchestration. Having declined to play the venue his whole career, he chose this moment to finally step onto that stage and fulfill her dream that her tiny piano prodigy would one day perform there.
Featuring personal photography and measures from the score, Babe: Elaboratio is a tribute to Babe, a celebration of music, and a meditation on the power of a mother’s love to shape a life forever.
“There aren’t enough trees to make enough paper to write enough words to say how much I love my mom.”Harry Connick, Jr.
The Work
Three movements, three cities
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Part I
New York
Where Babe was a child — the opening statement of a theme the rest of her life would elaborate.
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Part II
Nouasseur
Morocco, and the chance meeting with the man she would marry. The turn the whole piece pivots on.
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Part III
New Orleans
Home, and the bench — one of the city’s first female judges, and the mother who heard a prodigy first.
The Recording
Recorded with Orchestra Victoria in Melbourne
- Composed & Arranged
- Harry Connick, Jr.
- Conducted by
- Jessica Gethin
- Orchestra
- Orchestra Victoria
- Recorded
- Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne
November 2025
- Mixed by
- Tracey Freeman
- Mastered by
- Vlado Meller
- Piano
- Steinway & Sons
- Cover Photograph
- Georgia Connick
Hear the promise he kept
“The fulfillment of a promise carried since childhood — one tied not to awards, prestige or accomplishment, but to a mother who believed in her son before the world ever knew his name.” — JubileeCast
℗ 2026 Mindfish Music, LLC · © 2025 Harry Connick, Jr. · Distributed by Symphonic Distribution Inc. All rights reserved. Art direction and design: Frank Harkins. Anita photographs from the Harry Connick Archives.