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Photograph of Tobias Picker
© by Harry Heleotis

Biography

Tobias Picker (b. New York City, 1954), described by BBC Music Magazine as "displaying a distinctively soulful style that is one of the glories of the current musical scene," began composing at the age of eight. He studied at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Princeton University. He began to receive important commissions and prestigious awards while still in his late teens and quickly became established as one of America's most sought after young composers.

By the age of thirty, Picker was the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Bearns Prize (Columbia University), a Charles Ives Scholarship, and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. In 1992, he received the prestigious Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. From 1985-90, Picker was the first Composer-in-Residence of the Houston Symphony. He has also served as Composer-in-Residence for major international festivals including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Pacific Music Festival.

Mr. Picker has received commissions and performances from Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony, Edo de Waart and the San Francisco Symphony, Christoph Eschenbach and the Houston Sympony, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony, David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Pinchas Zukerman and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Proms, David Robertson and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, James Levine and the Munich Philharmonic, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Zurich Tonhalle, Jan Latham-Konig and the Strasbourg Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Pacific Music Festival, the Kuhmo International Music Festival, Peter Serkin, Emmanuel Ax, Ursula Oppens, Paul Watkins, Young Uck Kim, Barbara Hendricks, as well as other leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists throughout the world. His catalogue 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.

The Encantadas, composed in 1983, has been performed internationally in seven languages. Sir John Gielgud recorded it for Virgin Classics in 1989. Many important actors have performed the narration and Mr. Picker himself has performed it often. Numerous performances of The Encantadas in the 2003 season marked its twentieth anniversary as a classic of the modern symphonic repertory.

In 1996, the Santa Fe Opera gave the world premiere of Mr. Picker's first opera, Emmeline. The opera played to sold-out houses, standing ovations and international critical acclaim, and was nationally telecast on PBS's Great Performances. Emmeline's premiere at New York City Opera was hailed by The New York Times as one of the ten most significant musical events of 1998.

Since that time Picker has become recognized as one of America's foremost composers of opera. His fourth opera, An American Tragedy, based on the novel of the same name by Theodore Dreiser (later adapted for film as "A Place in the Sun"), was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, and premiered at the Met in the fall of 2005. The chamber version of his opera Thérèse Raquin had its world premiere in March of 2006 in London, at the Linbury Studio of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and a second run at Dicapo Opera Theatre in February of 2007.

Beginning with the 2007/08 season, Picker takes up the position of Artistic Advisor to New York’s Dicapo Opera Theatre. Picker enjoyed a successful collaboration with Dicapo last season when the theatre premiered the chamber version of his opera Thérèse Raquin to critical acclaim. As Artistic Advisor to Dicapo Opera, Picker will provide direction on repertoire expansion and commissions in addition to overall artistic planning.

Tobias Picker's music is widely recorded. Most recently, Chandos Records released a disc including his Cello Concerto, Keys to the City, and And Suddenly It's Evening, as well as the premiere recording of his third opera, Thérèse Raquin. His music has also been recorded by Sony Classical, Virgin Classics, Nonesuch, Ondine, and First Edition, among others. Ursula Oppens is currently recording Picker's complete works for piano, due for release by Wergo in Spring 2008.


Chronology

1954Born on 18 July in Manhattan.

1962Begins studying the piano, improvising and writing first compositions for the piano. Corresponds with Gian Carlo Menotti who encourages him to write operas.

1963Attends Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concert, hearing Andre Watts' debut.

1965Accepted at the Juilliard Preparatory Division for studies in piano and theory.

1972Enters the Manhattan School of Music for composition studies with Charles Wuorinen, orchestration with John Corigliano. Also studies violin, cello and voice.

1976Receives first commission by Speculum Musicae for Sextet No. 3. Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music. Accepted at the Juilliard School for graduate studies in composition with Elliott Carter.

1977Sextet No. 3 premiered by Speculum Musicae in Alice Tully Hall. Receives BMI Student Composers Award.

1978First national critical acclaim for premiere of Rhapsody for Violin and Piano in New York City. Hailed by The New Yorker music critic Andrew Porter as "a genuine creator with a fertile, unforced vein of invention."
Receives Masters Degree of Music from the Juilliard School. Awarded the Bearns Prize (Columbia University) and invited to attend Princeton University for further graduate studies in composition with Milton Babbitt.

1979Nova, a companion piece to the Trout Quintet premiered. Later performed with Tobias Picker as pianist on the San Francisco Symphony's "New and Unusual Music Series," directed by John Adams, with musicians from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and on tour in Hawaii with Speculum Musicae.

1980Awarded first of two fellowhsips from The National Endowment for the Arts.

1981Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship. Violin Concerto, first major commission, premiered and recorded by the American Composers Orchestra.

1982Second National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship awarded.

1983Three major works premiered:
April, Symphony No. 1 commissioned and premiered by the San Francisco Symphony, Edo de Waart, conductor, and performed on tour in Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.
May, Piano Concerto No. 2: Keys to the City commissioned by the City of New York for the Brooklyn Bridge centennial celebration and premiered by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Lukas Foss, conductor and Tobias Picker, soloist.
August, The Encantadas, concerto for actor and orchestra commissioned by the Northeast Orchestral Consortium and premiered by the Albany Symphony — later recorded by Sir John Gielgud, with Christoph Eschenbach conducting the Houston Symphony for Virgin Records.
Nonesuch Records commissions Serenade for Piano and Winds.

1984Charles Ives Scholarship of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Composes first song, Aussöhnung on text of Goethe for soprano Judith Bettina.

1985Appointed as the first Composer-in-Residence to the Houston Symphony, serves through 1990.

1986Symphony No. 2: Aussöhnung for soprano and orchestra, based on the song, premiered by the Houston Symphony, Sergiu Comissiona conducting.
Composes his tone poem, Old and Lost Rivers. It is performed by virtually every major American orchestra including the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and the Zurich Tonhalle and Jerusalem Symphony. Recorded three times for Virgin Records, Sony Classical and Angel Records.

1987Composer-in-Residence, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Premiere of String Quartet No. 1: New Memories commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Georgia O'Keefe. 1988Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center commissions String Quartet with Bass. Premiered with composer conducting.
Symphony No. 3, Houston Symphony commission, is premiered with David Zinman conducting.
Carnegie Hall premiere of The Encantadas with the American Composers Orchestra.
Peter Serkin premieres his commission Three Pieces for Piano at the 92nd Street Y and at the Theatre Champs Elysees in Paris.

1989Composes Romance and Interludes at Christoph Eschenbach's suggestion, for the Houston Symphony and their principal oboist, Robert Atherholt; based on Robert Schumann's Three Romances, Opus 94.


Illustration from The New Yorker
© 1984 by Anthony Russo.
All rights reserved.

1990Two Fantasies for orchestra premiered by Christoph Eschenbach and the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and performed on tour.

1992Wins the Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Music. Bang! for piano and orchestra commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for their 150th anniversary year. Premiere conducted by Kurt Masur.

1993The Rain in the Trees for soprano, flute and orchestra, based on poems of W.S. Merwin, is premiered by Lorin Maazel conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Also performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera.

1994And Suddenly It's Evening premiered, inspired by a poem of Salvatore Quasimodo. Commissioned by a consortium of six youth orchestras. Directs "Week of American Music" in Bucharest, Romania. Begins his first opera, Emmeline.

1995Composer-in-Residence at the Pacific Music Festival, founded by Leonard Bernstein, in Sapporo, Japan.
The Encantadas performed in Tokyo with Christoph Eschenbach and the Houston Symphony.
His 1981 work, The Blue Hula, given Japanese premiere by the Philharmonic Musicians from Vienna, principal musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic.
Joins faculty of Bennington College.

1996Emmeline, an opera in two acts with libretto by J.D. McClatchy, receives its world premiere at the Santa Fe Opera.

1997Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the children's tale by Roald Dahl with libretto by Donald Sturrock, is commissioned by the Roald Dahl Foundation, U.K.
Four Etudes for Ursula commissioned by Northwestern University is premiered by Ursula Oppens, Carnegie Hall and Tanglewood Festival.
National television premiere of Emmeline on PBS' Great Performances.
Commissioned by the BBC to compose a cello concerto.

1998Commissioned by the Dallas Opera. Chose for his subject matter Emile Zola's novel, Therese Raquin. Libretto by Gene Scheer.
New York City Opera premiere of Emmeline garners international critical acclaim. World premiere CD of Emmeline released.
Fantastic Mr. Fox, his second opera, premiered by the Los Angeles Music Center Opera.

1999Commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera. Picker decides to base his fourth opera on Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy.
Ursula Oppens gives the European premiere of Four Etudes for Ursula in Berlin.
Premiere of Suite for Cello and Piano by Lynn Harrell, commissioned by a consortium including the Ravinia Festival; the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Wolf Trap Foundation, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

2000European premiere of Symphony No. 2: Aussöhnung, Munich Philharmonic, James Levine conducting.
World Premiere of Tres sonetos de amor for soprano and piano, with Judith Bettina and James Goldsworthy.

2001World premiere of Thérèse Raquin, The Dallas Opera, and the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra at the BBC Proms.

2002Canadian Premiere of Thérèse Raquin (in French translation) at L'Opera de Montreal.
World Premiere of Tres sonetos de amor, Pacific Symphony Orchestra. Carl St. Clare, conducting, Nathan Gunn, baritone.

2003West Coast Premiere of Thérèse Raquin at San Diego Opera.
European Premiere of Tres sonetos de amor, Strasbourg Philharmonique.
The Encantadas widely performed throughout the US (twentieth anniversary of the work).

2004The Blue Hula European Premiere, Christoph Eschenbach, L'Orchestre de Paris.

2005Premiere of An American Tragedy at the Metropolitan Opera.

2006Premiere of the chamber version of Thérèse Raquin at the Linbury Studio of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.

2007American premiere of the chamber version of Thérèse Raquin at the Dicapo Opera Theatre of New York.


Fellowships and Awards

Composers Conference 1975, 1976

BMI Student Composer Award 1977

Bearns Prize (Columbia University) 1978

Princeton University for Graduate Studies 1978-1980

National Endowment for the Arts Composer Fellowship 1980, 1982

Charles Ives Scholarship (American Academy of Arts and Letters) 1984

Guggenheim Fellowship 1981

The Award in Music - American Academy of Arts and Letters 1992

Composer-in-Residence

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival 1987

Houston Symphony 1985-1990

Pacific Music Festival 1995

Tobias Picker in Opera News
 

Tobias Picker was featured as the cover story in the August 2005 issue of Opera News (Aug. 2005)
Click here to read the article.


Further Reading and Reference
Articles about and interviews with Tobias Picker.

American Opera: Dreiser's Tragedy Transformed
Review of An American Tragedy by Bruce MacIntyre in the Newsletter of the Brooklyn College Institute for Studies in American Music, Spring 2006.

The Eternal Triangle, Dreiser Style
Review of An American Tragedy by Michael Dellaira in New Music Connoisseur, Summer/Fall 2006, Vol. 14, #1.

Der Mozart Von Manhattan
Feature Article, in German, on Tobias Picker by Irene Dische, Park Avenue Magazine (Hamburg), 2005.

"Opera Hot"
Alex Ross on An American Tragedy.

Wikipedia
Tobias Picker's entry on wikipedia.org.


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