Tarik O'Regan

Infobox Person
name = Tarik O'Regan

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|thumb|200px|right
image_size = 200px
caption = Tarik O’Regan
(photo credit: Copyright © Marion Ettlinger)
birth_date = 1 January 1978
residence = New York City and Cambridge, England
nationality = British
education = Pembroke College, Oxford and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
occupation = composer
website = http://www.tarikoregan.com

Tarik Hamilton O'Regan (born 1 January 1978, London) is a British composer, partly of North African extraction, currently living in New York City and Cambridge, England.

Life and work

Two-time British Composer Award winner, [2005 British Composer Award (vocal category), 2007 British Composer Award (liturgical category)] Tarik O’Regan was educated at Whitgift School and then Pembroke College, Oxford, completing his postgraduate studies at Cambridge, where he was appointed Composer in Residence at Corpus Christi College.

Described as "a brilliant new voice" ("Houston Chronicle") [ [http://blogs.chron.com/aboutlastnight/2007/09/choral_music_from_a_fresh_new.html"The Houston Chronicle", October 1, 2007] ] whose music "has a gritty freshness unlike that of anyone else" ("The Independent", London), [ [http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article2484651.ece"The Independent" (London), April 26, 2007] ] his compositions have been performed internationally by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Los Angeles Master Chorale.

O'Regan divides his time between New York City and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he is Fellow Commoner in the Creative Arts. He has held the Fulbright Chester Schirmer Fellowship in Music Composition at Columbia University and a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard. He has also served on the Visiting Faculty of Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music.

O'Regan's current project, a chamber opera version of Joseph Conrad’s novella "Heart of Darkness" in collaboration with the artist Tom Phillips RA, [ [http://www.operaprojects.org/heart_of_darkness.htm American Opera Projects: "Heart of Darkness"] ] is jointly in development in London with Royal Opera House [http://www.operagenesis.com/ "OperaGenesis"] and in New York with [http://www.operaprojects.org American Opera Projects] .

Career highlights

*1997 - received first commissions from the Choir of New College, Oxford (with their director Edward Higginbottom) and James Bowman
*1999 - O'Regan begins serving as the classical recordings reviewer for "The Observer" newspaper (position held until 2003)
*2000 - began supervising undergraduate music at University of Cambridge
*2002 - London premieres of "Clichés" with the London Sinfonietta and "The Pure Good of Theory" with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
*2003 - awarded a [http://www.wingate.org.uk/ Wingate Scholarship]
*2004 - moved to New York City to take up the Chester Schirmer Fulbright Fellowship at Columbia University and subsequently a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard
*2005 - commenced association with Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music as a Research Affiliate
*2005 - "Sainte" (from "New French Songs") was the winning work in the "Vocal" category of the 2005 British Composer Awards [ [http://www.music.ox.ac.uk/newsletter/Jan_2006/news.htm "Notes from St Aldate's" (Music Faculty newsletter, January 2006] ]
*2006 - debut disc, "VOICES" released to critical acclaim
*2007 - appointed Fellow Commoner in the Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge
*2007 - "Threshold of Night" was the winning work in the "Liturgical" category of the 2007 British Composer Awards [ [http://www.britishacademy.com/public-news/british-composer-award-winners-announced.html British Academy of Composers and Songwriters press release, December 6, 2007] ]
*2008 - "Scattered Rhymes" CD released, performed by the Orlando Consort and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir conducted by Paul Hillier, and receives international acclaim
*2008 - "Threshold of Night", O'Regan's second disc on the Harmonia Mundi label, released

Publications

Tarik O'Regan’s earliest works were published by Oxford University Press and [http://www.sulasol.fi/english/index.htm Sulasol] ; since 2004 his music has been exclusively published by [http://www.chesternovello.com Novello & Company Limited] , part of the Music Sales group of companies.
* [http://www.chesternovello.com/default.aspx?TabId=2431&State_2905=3&ComposerID_2905=1155&CategoryID_2905=0 ChesterNovello catalogue] (2004-present)
* [http://www.oup.co.uk/search/?view=searchresults&field-13073=o%27regan%20and%20tarik Oxford University Press catalogue] (1999-2003)

elected press

*O'Regan's 2006 debut disc, "VOICES" (Collegium Records COL CD 130), recorded by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, was released to critical acclaim, heralding O’Regan as "one of the most original and eloquent of young British composers" ("The Observer", London), [ "The Observer" (London), March 12, 2006 ] "breathing new life into the idiom" ("The Daily Telegraph", London). ["The Daily Telegraph" (London), March 11, 2006 ] "International Record Review" declared the recording "a committed, persuasive and highly accomplished performance of an exceptional composing voice of our time", ["International Record Review", April 2006 ] while "BBC Music Magazine" gave the disc a double five-star rating. [ "BBC Music Magazine", May 2006]

*After the June 2006 premiere of "Scattered Rhymes" at the Spitalfields Festival, Geoff Brown, in "The Times" (London), described "O’Regan’s gift for lyric flight [as] boundless. You might have to reach back to Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music, or even Tallis, to find another British vocal work so exultant." [ [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article678547.ece"The Times" (London), June 26, 2006] ]

*"Scattered Rhymes" 2008, O'Regan's first disc from Harmonia Mundi, was described as "a stunning recording" (BBC Radio 3 CD Review), [ BBC Radio 3 CD Review, May 3, 2008] "exquisite and delicate" ("The Washington Post"), [ "The Washington Post", June 26, 2008] "a fascinating disc" ("'The Daily Telegraph", London) [ "The Daily Telegraph", May 10, 2008] and "typically unfaultable" (BBC Music Magazine). [ "BBC Music Magazine", June 2008]

Personal life

*An article in "The Independent" newspaper on April 26, 2007 stated that O’Regan spent some of his early childhood in Algeria. [ [http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article2484651.ece "The Independent" (London), April 26, 2007] ]
*An article in "The Daily Telegraph" newspaper on April 28, 2007 quotes O'Regan as saying he’s "a pretty bad singer". [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/04/28/bmticket128.xml "The Daily Telegraph" (London), April 28, 2007] ]
*According to an article in "The Birmingham Post" on July 12, 2007, O’Regan once worked for JPMorgan Chase, the investment bank. [ [http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birminghampost/reviews/tm_headline=tarik-s-american-inspiration%26method=full%26objectid=19445707%26siteid=50002-name_page.html "The Birmingham Post", July 12, 2007] ]

Discography

Album covers

*The artwork for O'Regan's 2008 disc, "Threshold of Night", is by Ed Ruscha. [SHELL, "Daggett, California", gelatin-silver photograph from "Twentysix Gasoline Stations", 1962, © Ed Ruscha]
*The artwork for O'Regan's 2008 disc, "Scattered Rhymes", is by [http://www.kettererkunst.com/bio/GunterFruhtrunk-1923-1982.shtml Günter Fruhtrunk (1923-1982)] .
*The artwork for O'Regan's 2006 disc, "VOICES", is by Tom Phillips, librettist of the opera based on Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness" written in collaboration with O'Regan.

External links

* [http://www.tarikoregan.com Official website]
* [http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2431&State_2905=2&composerId_2905=1155 Publisher website]
* [http://www.thresholdofnight.com "Threshold of Night" official website]

ee also

* Andrew Caldecott (O'Regan's great-grandfather) [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=0lauY4aC3OkC John O'Regan, "From Empire to Commonwealth: Reflections on a Career in Britain's Overseas Service", The Radcliffe Press, 1994] ]
* William Rowan Hamilton (O'Regan's great-great-grandfather) [ibid.]

References