- Michael Torke
-
Michael Torke (
/ˈtɔrki/; born September 22, 1961) is an American composer who writes music influenced by jazz and minimalism. Sometimes described as a post-minimalist, his most postminimal piece is Four Proverbs, in which the syllable for each pitch is fixed and variations in the melody produce streams of nonsense words. Other works in this style include Book of Proverbs and Song of Isaiah. His most well known work is probably Javelin, which he composed in 1994, commissioned by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympics in celebration of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's 50th anniversary season, in conjunction with the 1996 Summer Olympics. Commissioned by Disney and Michael Eisner for the New York Philharmonic's Millennium Celebration, he wrote Four Seasons, an oratorio for chorus and orchestra celebrating various aspects of the months. He also wrote a ballet in 2002, The Contract, with choreography by James Kudelka. A recent project for the New York City Opera fell through.He was commissioned to help Chicago celebrate the centennial of Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago and produced a work entitled Plans that was performed at the Grant Park Music Festival in June 2009.[1][2]
A synesthete, he is the composer of numerous pieces (Bright Blue Music, Ecstatic Orange) which include colors in the titles, later made into the suite Color Music. Other pieces include The Directions (1986) an opera, Rust (1989), influenced by rap and disco, Telephone Book (1985, 1995), Adjustable Wrench and Ash (1989) and Mass (1990), which received criticism for an attempt at the style of Beethoven and Mendelssohn.
In 2003, he created his own record label, Ecstatic Records, on which he re-released a set of six 1990s CDs that were deleted by the now out-of-business Argo Records, which was a subsidiary of Decca Records.
Torke was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; graduated from Wauwatosa East High School; and studied at the Eastman School of Music with Joseph Schwantner and Christopher Rouse, and at Yale University.
See also: Category:Ballets by Michael TorkeReferences
- ^ "From 1909: Burnham’s Plan and Rachmaninoff’s 3rd". Grant Park Music Festival. http://www.grantparkmusicfestival.com/2009-season/burnhams-plan-and-rachmaninoffs-3rd. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
- ^ Johnson, Lawrence A. (2009-06-20). "With unplanned weather, Torke’s “Plans” receives ardent if soggy premiere". Chicago Classical Review. http://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2009/06/with-unplanned-weather-torkes-plans-receives-ardent-if-soggy-premiere/. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
External links
- Michael Torke Official Site
- Classical Net: Michael Torke
- New York City Opera: Learning Center: Resources Center: Biographies: Michael Torke
Listening
Categories:- 1961 births
- Living people
- 21st-century classical composers
- 20th-century classical composers
- American composers
- Opera composers
- People with synesthesia
- Eastman School of Music alumni
- Ballet composers
- Ballets by Michael Torke
- American composer, 20th century birth stubs
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
