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Michael Torke (b9/22/1961)

The music of Michael Torke has been called ‘some of the most optimistic, joyful and thoroughly uplifting music to appear in recent years’ (Gramophone). Hailed as a ‘vitally inventive composer’ (Financial Times) and ‘a master orchestrator whose shimmering timbral palette makes him the Ravel of his generation’ (New York Times), Michael Torke has created a substantial body of works in virtually every genre, each with a characteristic personal stamp that combines restless rhythmic energy with ravishingly beautiful melodies. Recent projects include a millennium symphony commission from Michael Eisner and the Walt Disney Company, performed by Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, the Central Park trilogy, written with A.R. Gurney for Great Performances and New York City Opera, and The Contract, an evening length story ballet for James Kudelka and the National Ballet of Canada. Other projects include a New York City Opera commission, House of Mirth (again with a libretto by A. R. Gurney), a new story ballet for the National Ballet of Canada based on The Italian Straw Hat, and a music theatre meditation on Marcel Carné’s Children of Paradise, for John Kelly &

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Discography

CALIFORNIA EAR UNIT: Andriessen / Steiger / Stockhausen / Carter / Torke / Jarvinen	INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA WIND ENSEMBLE: Ride	PILGRIM'S PROGRESS: PIONEERS OF AMERICAN CLASSICAL MUSIC
PUTZ, M.: Derivations / ITO, Y.: Sinfonia Singaporiana / SCHWANTER, J.: Percussion Concerto (University of Calgary Wind Ensemble)	TORKE: Rapture / An American Abroad / Jasper