Music - Tobias Picker, composer tobiaspicker.com
Described by BBC Music Magazine as "displaying a distinctively soulful style that is one of the glories of the current musical scene," Tobias began his professional life while still a teenager as an improviser for the Martha Graham Dance Company. He has since had works commissioned and performed by the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC Proms), Munich Philharmonic, The Zurich Tonhalle and the Helsinki Philharmonic. His opera, Emmeline (1996), was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera, and his opera Thérèse Raquin (2001) has been produced by the opera houses of Dallas, San Diego and Montreal and was given its UK première at the Linbury ROH2 in 2006. An American Tragedy, (2005) was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera.
Tobias’ adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (1998) was commissioned by The Roald Dahl Foundation for the Los Angeles Opera. Opera Holland Park (UK) commissioned a chamber version of Fantastic Mr. Fox, which premièred in London in July 2010, and English Touring Opera will launch a three-month UK tour of the opera in March 2011. Tobias has received numerous honours including a Charles Ives Scholarship, Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and the prestigious Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His music has been recorded on Virgin Classics, Sony Classics, Chandos, Ondine and Wergo, among other labels. Tobias Picker: Keys to the City (WER 66952) is a complete collection of the composer’s solo piano music, performed by Ursula Oppens. He is currently working on a new piano quintet commissioned by Da Camera Houston for the Brentano Quartet, and a new opera for world premiere in 2015. Tobias Picker’s music is published exclusively by Schott Music.