The Music of Tobias Picker

Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008, 8:00 pm

[ tickets and season subscription ]

On Saturday, February 2, Dicapo Opera Theatre will present “The Music of Tobias Picker,” a concert of scenes and arias from all four of the composer’s operas—Emmeline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Thérèse Raquin, and An American Tragedy. This is the first presentation of Mr. Picker’s music at Dicapo since he joined the company as Artistic Advisor last season, following Dicapo’s widely praised production of Thérèse Raquin in the opera’s New York premiere.

The scenes and arias will be performed by the young singers in Dicapo’s Resident Artists program. In addition to his counsel on repertoire and artistic planning, Mr. Picker has been working with the Resident Artists in developing their craft. For the February 2 program, Mr. Picker selected each of the singers and is personally coaching them for this performance. Accompanying the singers on February 2 will be British pianist/composer Simon Mulligan.

“The Music of Tobias Picker” will take place at Dicapo Opera Theatre located on the lower level of St. Jean Baptiste Church at 184 East 76th Street at Lexington Avenue. Tickets are $25 and are available at the Dicapo Opera Theatre box office or by calling 212-288-9438, Ext. 10.

In May, mezzo-soprano Kirstin Chavez, who sang the role of Thérèse in the San Diego production of Thérèse Raquin, will perform a program of songs and arias by Mr. Picker in a preview of her upcoming recording of his works for Koch Classics. In upcoming seasons, Dicapo Opera Theatre will present the New York premiere of Mr. Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, originally premiered by Los Angeles Opera and based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name, and new productions of his acclaimed first opera Emmeline and An American Tragedy.

Simon Mulligan, an international concert, chamber music, and recital artist, is also well known as a composer and arranger, as well as for his classical and jazz recordings. He was inspired by Yehudi Menuhin, who conducted Mr. Mulligan’s first CD in 1992 and with whom he collaborated during the last seven years of Mr. Menuhin’s life. He is particularly devoted to contemporary music and has premiered works by Hans Werner Henze, James Macmillan, Alexis Weissenberg, Mark Anthony Turnage, Paul Moravec, and Tobias Picker. Mr. Mulligan’s recording of Ned Rorem’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with José Serebrier and the Royal National Scottish Orchestra was a recent Gramophone Editor’s Choice. His new recording of Beethoven sonatas is being released shortly by Sony Masterworks, and his new jazz quartet album, Playlist, will soon be released by Sony, in addition.

New York City native Tobias Picker, described by the Wall Street Journal as “our finest composer for the lyric stage,” began to receive important commissions and awards while still in his teens. His first opera, Emmeline, was premiered by Santa Fe Opera in 1996 and telecast on PBS’s Great Performances. Two years later, New York City Opera’s production was hailed by The New York Times as one of the 10 most significant musical events of the season. The Metropolitan Opera commissioned Mr. Picker’s fourth opera, An American Tragedy, which it premiered in 2005 conducted by James Conlon and featuring Susan Graham, Dolora Zajick, Patricia Racette, and Nathan Gunn. In addition to his four operas, Mr. Picker’s catalogue, published exclusively by Schott Music, consists of works in all genres including three symphonies, four operas, three piano concertos, concerti for violin, viola, cello and oboe, songs, and chamber music. He has received numerous commissions and performances of his work from ensembles and soloists throughout the world, and his music has been recorded by several major labels and includes Thérèse Raquin and The Encantadas, his widely performed work for narrator and orchestra. An orchestral disc on Chandos Records includes his Concerto for Cello and Orchestra and his Keys to the City piano concerto, which was commissioned by the City of New York for the centennial of the Brooklyn Bridge. In previous administrative positions, Mr. Picker has been composer in residence for the Houston Symphony, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Pacific Music Festival.

For detailed program information, please click here.

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