“Opera Philadelphia’s next composer-in-residence is a musical polymath whose work bridges a wide range of influences and genres,” writes Peter Dobrin in Thursday’s (11/21) Philadelphia Inquirer. “Tyshawn Sorey—a percussionist, pianist, conductor, trombonist, composer, and 2017 MacArthur Fellow—will spend the next year or two immersing himself in the elements of a genre new to him. Sorey grew up in Newark, N.J., and is a professor at Wesleyan University. Although he has never written an opera, his appointment grew out of Cycles of My Being, a set of emotionally complex songs he composed for Opera Philadelphia exploring the African American male experience. It premiered at the Kimmel Center in 2018…. The residency begins this week … The company hopes the residency will lead to the commissioning of a work from Sorey…. Sorey’s residency this season is funded by the final year of a three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation…. As a composer and performer, he embraces … Eastern music, Western classical music, improvisation, and atonality…. ‘I don’t necessarily see some big grand opera, like Monteverdi,’ he said, ‘but I am looking to do something that is totally myself within the opera genre.’ ”
Posted November 22, 2019
