Michael Jeffrey Shapiro is an American composer, conductor, and author.
Michael Shapiro | |
|---|---|
 Michael Shapiro 2002 | |
| Background information | |
| Genres | Classical music |
| Occupations | Composer, conductor, pianist |
| Website | www |
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and studied at Columbia College, Columbia University, the Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School.[1] He has worked with musicians and performers including Teresa Stratas, Janos Starker, Marin Alsop, Sergiu Comissiona, Kim Cattrall, Clamma Dale, Hila Plitmann,Grant Gershon. and Anita Darian.[1] He has conducted, composed for or worked with organizations including the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the American Jewish Committee, the Hawthorne String Quartet, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Los Angeles Opera, the Atlanta Opera, the United States Navy Band, the West Point Band, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.[1]
Shapiro has been the music director and conductor of the Chappaqua Orchestra. He has written a score for the 1931 film Frankenstein.[2][3][4]
Shapiro was music consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He has put on concerts by Jewish composers who had fled The Holocaust or had been murdered during it, and musicians imprisoned in Theresienstadt Ghetto.[5] He has composed an oratorio, VOICES, for those who were murdered in the Holocaust.[5]
His writing includes the book The Jewish 100, and research into klezmer music and into music in the plays of William Shakespeare.[6][7]
In 1984, Tim Page, writing in The New York Times, described Shapiro as[8]
a solid, conservative craftsman whose music, at its best, is marked by a direct expressivity that is often captivating. He has an ear for the English language, and three sets of terse, epigrammatic songs, though uneven, showed an unquestionable melodic gift. Mr. Shapiro writes in an idiom that might be characterized as gently dissonant, eschewing angular vocal leaps and bounds in favor of linear continuity.
Selected work edit
Opera edit
- The Love of Don Perlimplin and Belisa in the Garden, libretto by Michael Shapiro based on the play by Federico García Lorca - a one-act opera written in 1984
- Frankenstein-The Movie Opera, soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass, and chamber orchestra (text the Latin Requiem Mass)
Film scores edit
- American Jewish Committee documentary
- Distant Relatives - Israel Broadcasting Authority
- Frankenstein-The Movie Score - four versions for fifteen player ensemble, full orchestra, wind ensemble, choral and operatic forces
Symphonies edit
- Symphony Pomes Penyeach based on the poems of James Joyce
- Second Symphony, recorded by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Orchestra edit
- A Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 for narrator and orchestra
- Lyric Variations for chamber orchestra
- like the roaring sea for orchestra
- Frankenstein-The Overture, recorded by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
- Frankenstein-The Movie Score (two orchestral versions - chamber ensemble (15 players) and full orchestra)
- The Headless Horseman for narrator and orchestra
- Perlimplinito, Opera Sweet, a lace paper valentine for orchestra, recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
- Widorama! for orchestra, recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
- Roller Coaster for orchestra, recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
- The Babbling Orchestra for narrator and orchestra
Band edit
- Roller Coaster for band
- Widorama! for band
- Frankenstein-The Overture for wind ensemble
- Frankenstein-The Movie Score for wind ensemble
- Bamboula for band
- A Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 for narrator and band
- Ol' Mississippi Sings the Blues for band, dedicated to Blind Mississippi Morris
- In Every One for band
- American Interludes for band
- Tending for band (arranged by Michael Markowski), optional narration based on a poem by Cotton Mather
Concerti edit
- Sinfonia Concertante for violin, violoncello, and orchestra
- Concerto for guitar and strings
- Concerto for harp and strings
- Archangel Concerto for piano and orchestra
- At the Shore of the Sea, Concerto for violin and orchestra
- In the Light of the Sun, Concerto for flute and orchestra
Chamber edit
- String Quartet (Yiddish), recorded by Argus Quartet
- Piano Quintet, recorded by Argus Quartet and Steven Beck, piano
- Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano
- Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano, recorded by Tim Fain, violin, and Steven Beck, piano
- Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
- Sextet for Piano and Winds
- Shir for Flute and Piano
- Yiddishkeit for Clarinet and Piano (alt. Violin and Piano or Cello and Piano)
- Musical Chairs for brass quintet (French Horn, two trumpets, trombone)
- American Realists for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano
- Watching the Students Grow for two Flutes and Piano
Solo Instrumental edit
- Eliahu Hanavi Variations - for solo violoncello, recorded by Sato Knudsen (Boston Symphony Orchestra)
- Peace Variations- for solo violin, recorded by Tim Fain
- Kaddish-Berakhot-Nigun - for solo flute
Piano edit
- Five Preludes
- Mysteries
- Sonata No. 1
- Sonata No. 2
- Bitter(sweet) Waltzes, recorded by Steven Beck
- Passages, recorded by Steven Beck
- Creation
- Babel
- In the Wilderness
- Hannah
- A Light
- Ruth
- Naso
- The Deluge
- Hineni! (Here I Stand!)
- American Interludes, dedicated to Lara Downes
- Calming
- Tending
- In Every One
Choral edit
- Three Psalms (SSAA a capella)
- Psalm 137 (SATB and organ)
- Three Shakespeare Madrigals (SATB a capella)
- There is that in me (Walt Whitman) (SATB and ensemble)
- Spanish Medieval Lyrics (SSATB a capella)
- Voices based on Sephardic poetry of the Holocaust (soprano or tenor soloist, SATB, and chamber ensemble), oratorio in eight movements, recorded by Daniel Mutlu, Ember Choral Arts, American Modern Ensemble, Deborah Simpkin King
- In Paradisum (SATBariB and ensemble)
- Cultivo una rosa blanca (Jose Marti) (SATB and piano)
Song cycles edit
- Canciones, poetry by Federico García Lorca, recorded by Ariadne Greif
- Dublin Songs, poetry by James Joyce, recorded by Ariadne Greif
- Songs for American Poets, poetry by Walt Whitman, Teton Sioux, Carl Sandburg
- Wordsworth Songs, poetry by William Wordsworth
- Erotic Songs, poetry by Erica Jong and Denise Levertov
- A Child's Garden, poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson (from A Child's Garden of Verses)
- Whitman Songs, poetry by Walt Whitman
Recordings edit
Recordings include:
- Eliahu Hanavi Variations - Sato Knudsen ('cello) (Naxos Records, Milken Archive of Jewish American Music)
- Variation - Peace Variations - Tim Fain (violin) and Eliahu Hanavi Variations - Sato Knudsen ('cello) (Paumanok Records)
- Second Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
- Overture to Frankenstein-The Movie Score, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
- Second Sonata for Violin and Piano, Tim Fain (violin) and Steven Beck (piano) (Paumanok Records)
- Archangel Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Steven Beck (piano), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
- Roller Coaster, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
- Perlimplinito, Opera Sweet, A Lace Paper Valentine for orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
- Widorama!, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
- Michael's Songbook, Vol. I, Ariadne Greif, soprano, Michael Shapiro, piano (recordings of Canciones and Dublin Songs) (Paumanok Records)
- Passages, Interludes, and Bitter(Sweet) Waltzes, Steven Beck, piano (Paumanok Records)
- Voices, Daniel Mutlu, tenor, Ember Choral Arts, American Modern Ensemble, Deborah Simpkin King, conductor (Paumanok Records)
- Yiddish Quartet and Piano Quintet, Argus Quartet and Steven Beck, piano (Paumanok Records)
References edit
- ^ a b c "Biography". Michael Shapiro. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ Goldberg, Mike (3 November 2020). "Composer Michael Shapiro Talks About His Score to the Film "Frankenstein"". VPM. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ Gresham, Mark (26 October 2023). "Q&A: Composer Michael Shapiro talks about his "Frankenstein—The Movie Opera"". EarRelevant. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ Gallagher, Danny (30 October 2018). "The Original Frankenstein Film Gets an Original Score, Courtesy of Composer Michael Shapiro". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ a b Pfeffer, Stacey (9 November 2022). "Michael Shapiro's VOICES Premieres, a Requiem Honoring Victims of the Holocaust". The Inside Press. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ Gruber, R.E. (2002). Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe. University of California Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-520-92092-7. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
- ^ Gurr, A.; Karim-Cooper, F. (2014). Moving Shakespeare Indoors: Performance and Repertoire in the Jacobean Playhouse. Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-107-04063-2. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
- ^ Page, Tim (8 January 1984). "MUSIC: MICHAEL SHAPIRO". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
Further reading edit
- ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, R. Bowker LLC (January 1981) ISBN 0-8352-1283-1
External links edit
- Milken Archive: Michael Shapiro
- Cabrillo festival of contemporary music
- Universal Edition: Werke von Michael Shapiro