The Composer Is Dead is a 2009 composition for narrator and orchestra, released both as a musical recording and as a book with a CD insert,[1] with text by Lemony Snicket, music by Nathaniel Stookey, and illustrations by Carson Ellis.

The Composer Is Dead was originally created as an orchestral work by Nathaniel Stookey with narration by Lemony Snicket.

The Composer Is Dead was inspired by Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf[3] and is similar to Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra in that it is intended to introduce young audiences to the instruments in the orchestra.

[4] The world premiere recording by the San Francisco Symphony, with Handler narrating as Snicket and Edwin Outwater conducting, is to be included with every copy of the expanded book.

[5] On January 26, 2008, Dino Antagonist led the Little Orchestra Society in the work's New York premiere at Avery Fisher Hall.