Music to Soothe the Preschool Set

The top-notch 2D animation studio Letko is hoping to ignite a new global interest in the music and legacy of popular 19th century Polish composer Frédéric Chopin, while also teaching kids about the magic of sounds and music around us. The Warsaw-based studio will bring its new project Freddie: The Little Chopin to the Annecy market in June.

“We are very excited to reveal this new project,” says Jakub Karwowski, CEO, co-founder and exec producer at Letko Animation Studio “We are working on with our team at Letko together with great partners from The Fryderyk Chopin Institute. Living with music gives you strength and power and challenges you to be open and creative. We believe that Freddie: The Little Chopin is a perfect guide to the world of music for children.”

Karwowski, who also co-created and exec produced the popular animated preschool series Odo, which has been sold to over 160 territories, adds, “The first season of the show will have 52 seven-minute episodes. We hope to premiere our first episode during the one and only International Chopin Piano Competition in October 2025.”

Songs in the Key of 2.5-D

The show’s animation style is inspired by the illustrations of the book series of the same name by Aga Pietrzykowska. “We plan to use 2D cut-out technique and mix it with hand- drawn animation and 3D lighting,” says the producer. “We love to call it 2.5-D animation. As in our previous show, Odo, we will be offering stories aimed at three- to sixyear-old kids.”

The show’s hand-crafted animation will be done in the Letko Studios in Warsaw. As Karwowski explains, “In recent years we managed to get training and experience for a very solid group of professionals, with whom we have worked on several international projects with great results! We mastered the Toon Boom Harmony pipeline, for which we create our own tools and scripts.”

The studio aims to create two distinct animation universes for show by using different artistic approaches for each one. The first one, which is realistic and will include collage compositions and contour drawing, will be used to illustrate how music comes from everyday situations. The second world is fantastic and depicts musical explorations. “We will go in the direction of more colorful and abstract forms where morphing and pictorial playfulness will be used as depictions of the characters’ imagination,” says the producer.

Karwowski says he and his team strongly believe in the concept, art style, sound design and unique qualities of the show’s main character. “Is it coincidence that his first and last names are the same as the famous pianist Fryderyk Chopin?” he asks. “The answer would be yes but not entirely. Freddie also lives in Warsaw and he has a great talent to delight a salon audience. His superpower is his musical imagination, which allows him to captivate others into the extremely playful world of sounds. It is not about classical music or Chopin’s music — but about the magic, spirit and energy that is alive behind all of that. Through spontaneous playfulness, he experiments with the most unique musical phe- nomena: harmony, rhythm, dynamics, he unravels the action of sound waves, synesthesia and the therapeutic effect of music — in his everyday life. Most importantly, however, he shows the audience that music surrounds us absolutely everywhere and, if we open ourselves up to it, we will become more free, happy and powerful. We believe that is all true and we want to bring that message to kids all over the world.”

Karwowski is proud of the fact that the show’s main character has connection to the young Chopin, who is a real hero in Poland and in the world of classical music. “Adding that reference to Freddie, who’s our guide to musical imagination for kids, is a great way to introduce this important figure. We believe it has great potential for international audiences, even in places where Chopin’s music is not that well known or widely played. I, myself, have been playing the piano since I was four. I was guided through the process of music education in a traditional and pretty boring way — until I discovered jazz, improvisation and started to follow my own, relaxed and individual way. I believe every kid can find their own way in the world of music: We can make it more accessible, vivid and exciting. We certainly hope that Freddie: The Little Chopin will serve as an entertaining introduction to music for young viewers all over the world. ◆

For more info, visit letko.co