Nico Muhly
Nico Muhly | |
---|---|
Nico Muhly in 2014 | |
Born |
Vermont, United States | August 26, 1981
Residence | New York City |
Alma mater | |
Years active | 2005 – present |
Home town | Providence, Rhode Island |
Website |
www |
Nico Muhly (/ˈniːkoʊ
Biography
Early years
Muhly was born in Vermont to Bunny Harvey,[2] a painter and teacher at Wellesley College, and Frank Muhly, a documentary filmmaker.[3] Muhly was raised in Providence, Rhode Island, and sang in the choir at Grace Episcopal Church in Providence.[4] He began studying piano at age 10.[3]
Muhly went on to study at the Wheeler School in Providence. He attended Columbia University, where he received a degree in English, and the Juilliard School, where he completed a Master's degree in music. He also studied composition with John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse.[5]
Musical works
In 2005, Muhly was commissioned by Colorado Academy, a private school in Colorado, to write a song for the opening of their new Fine Arts building.
Muhly worked in collaboration with Björk on the DVD single "Oceania" in 2004,[6] and he worked with Philip Glass as an editor, conductor, and keyboardist.[6]
In 2006, he released his first album of works, titled Speaks Volumes.[7] In 2008, he released his second album, titled Mothertongue.[8][9]
In 2009, Muhly did choral and string quartet arrangements for four of the songs on Brooklyn-based indie rock band Grizzly Bear's third album, Veckatimest,[10] and he worked with Antony and the Johnsons on the albums The Crying Light and Swanlights.
In a 2007 interview with Molly Sheridan on NewMusicBox, Muhly explained that while he considers himself a classical music composer, that does not preclude his working in a variety of musical genres: "It's essentially like being from somewhere. I feel like I'm very proudly from the classical tradition. It's like being from Nebraska. Like you are from there if you're from there. It doesn't mean that you can't have a productive life somewhere else. The notion of your genre being something that you have to actively perform, I think is pretty vile."[11]
Muhly worked on two commissions for the UK-based Britten Sinfonia, performed in January and February 2010. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival commissioned "Drones & Piano" for pianist Bruce Brubaker, which premiered in May 2010.[12]
Muhly's opera Two Boys, a collaboration with librettist Craig Lucas and directed by Bartlett Sher, premiered in June 2011 at the English National Opera and made its Metropolitan Opera debut on October 21, 2013.[13][14][15] According to a 2008 New York Times article, the opera is based on a late-1990s British case involving a 14-year-old boy taking on the online identity of women to try to get someone to kill him, without success.[16] However, in a 2008 interview with The Advocate, Muhly stated that the opera is based on the true story of an online friendship between two male teenagers, one of whom kills the other.[3] The opera was re-worked both before and after its 2011 premiere. The first recording of the piece, from the Met production, was released on Nonesuch Records in 2014.[17]
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Commissioning Club, Cantus, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Alfred P. and Ann M. Moore commissioned Luminous Body, also a collaboration with librettist Craig Lucas. The piece premiered on September 9, 2011.[18]
In 2013, he toured with Glen Hansard. They performed together with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Eindhoven and Amsterdam.
His 2008 musical collaboration, Confessions, with Faroese singer-songwriter Teitur was released in 2016 by Nonesuch Records.
Muhly contributed to the 2018 re-recording of David Bowie's 1987 album Never Let Me Down.
Compositions and projects
Choral
- 2003 Set Me as a Seal
- 2004 First Service
- 2004 Like as the Hart
- 2005 A Good Understanding
- 2005 Bright Mass with Canons
- 2005 Expecting the Main Things from You
- 2005 I Cannot Attain Unto It
- 2006 The Sweets of Evening
- 2007 Syllables
- 2008 Pater Noster
- 2008 Senex Puerum Portabat
- 2009 I Drink the Air Before Me
- 2011 Luminous Body
- 2011 Grief Is the Price We Pay for Love
- 2013 An Outrage (BBC commission)
- 2014 Sentences
Film
- 2006 Choking Man
- 2006 Cricket Head
- 2007 Joshua
- 2006 Wonder Showzen, "The Clarence Special Report on Compelling Television"
- 2008 The Reader
- 2009 Felicitas
- 2011 Margaret
- 2013 Kill Your Darlings
Opera
- 2010 Dark Sisters
- 2011 Two Boys
- 2017 Marnie, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera for the 2019/20 season. Premiered by English National Opera in Autumn 2017.
Incidental
- 2005 Iphigenia at Aulis[19]
- 2007 The Magnificent Cuckold
- 2008 Prayer for My Enemy
Orchestra
- 2001–2002 Fits & Bursts
- 2003 Out of the Loop
- 2004 By All Means
- 2004 So to Speak
- 2006 It Remains to Be Seen
- 2006 Wish You Were Here
- 2007 From Here on Out
- 2007 Seeing is Believing
- 2008 Step Team
- 2009 The Only Tune
- 2009 Drones on O Lord, Whose Mercies Numberless
- 2009 Vocalise on Al lampo dell' armi
- 2009 Impossible Things
- 2010 Detailed Instructions
- 2011 Edge of the World
- 2012 So Far So Good
- 2012 Gait (BBC commission)
- 2012 Cello Concerto
- 2013 Bright Mass with Cannons
- 2014 Viola Concerto
- 2015 Mixed Messages
Piano
- 2003 Three Études for Piano
- 2005 A Hudson Cycle
- 2005 Pillaging Music
- 2007 Skip Town
- 2010 Drones & Piano
Percussion
- 2002 Beaming Music
- 2003 Time after Time
- 2004 It's About Time
- 2005 Ta & Clap
- 2008 I Shudder to Think
Small ensemble
- 2002 Beaming Music
- 2003 Clear Music
- 2003 Flexible Music
- 2003 Duet No 1: Chorale Pointing Downwards
- 2003 Reading into it
- 2004 By All Means[20]
- 2004 You Could Have Asked Me
- 2004 Ta and Clap
- 2005 The Elements of Style
- 2005 Stride
- 2005 Pillaging Music
- 2006 How About Now
- 2006 Fast Music with Folk Songs
- 2007 I Know Where Everything Is
- 2007 Principles of Uncertainty
- 2008 Triade
- 2008 Mothertongue
- 2008 Wonders
- 2008 The Only Tune
- 2008 Common Ground
- 2009 I Drink the Air Before Me
- 2009 Motion
- 2009 Farewell Photography
- 2010 Drones & Piano
- 2011 Drones & Viola
- 2012 Drones & Violin
- 2017 Planetarium
Solo
- 2002 Radiant Music
- 2003 Honest Music[21]
- 2003 A Long Line
- 2005 Keep in Touch
- 2005 Pillaging Music
- 2005 It Goes without Saying
Voice
- 2003 Employment
- 2005 The Elements of Style
- 2007 Mothertongue
- 2007 Wonders
- 2007 The Only Tune
- 2008 The Adulteress
- 2009 Drones on "O Lord, Whose Mercies Numberless"
- 2009 Vocalise on "Al lampo dell' armi"
- 2009 Impossible Things
Arrangements and orchestrations
- 2006 The Letting Go by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
- 2007 Miserere Mei (orchestration of William Byrd's Miserere Mei)
- 2007 Deus and Bow Thine Ear (orchestration of William Byrd's Deus and Bow Thine Ear)
- 2008 All Is Well by Sam Amidon
- 2008 "Með þér" and "Á meðan vatnið velgist" on Bestu kveðjur by Sprengjuhöllin
- 2009 Confessions, a multimedia collaboration with Teitur Lassen.[22]
- 2009 Various songs on Antony and the Johnsons' album The Crying Light[23]
- 2009 Various songs on Grizzly Bear's album Veckatimest
- 2009 Tricks of the Trade on Mew's album No More Stories...
- 2009 Year of the Dragon on Run Rabbit Run[24]
- 2009 "So Far Around The Bend" by The National on Dark Was the Night
- 2010 Various songs on Antony and the Johnsons' album Swanlights
- 2010 Go by Jónsi
- 2010 "I See the Sign" by Sam Amidon
- 2012 "Climax" on Looking 4 Myself by Usher
- 2010 String arrangements on Antony and the Johnsons' album Cut the World
- 2013 For Now I Am Winter by Ólafur Arnalds
- 2015 "Anecdotes" on Joanna Newsom's album Divers
- 2017 "Fortune Son", collaboration with Villagers
Discography
- 2007 – Speaks Volumes (Bedroom Community HVALUR1) (Includes Clear Music; It Goes without Saying; Honest Music; Quiet Music; Pillaging Music; A Hudson Cycle and Keep in Touch)
- 2008 – Joshua (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by various artists (Moviescore Media)
- 2008 – Mothertongue (Bedroom Community HVALUR5CD / Brassland (North America only)) (Includes Mothertongue I: Archive; Mothertongue II: Shower; Mothertongue III: Hress; Mothertongue IV: Monster; Wonders: I. New Things & New Tidings; Wonders: II. The Devil Appear'd in the Shape of a Man; Wonders: III. A Complaint against Thomas Weelkes; The Only Tune: I. The Two Sisters; The Only Tune: II. The Old Mill Pond; and The Only Tune: III. The Only Tune)
- 2009 – The Reader (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by various artists (Lakeshore Records)
- 2010 – I Drink the Air Before Me (Bedroom Community HVALUR10, Decca/Universal Classics 478 257)
- 2010 – A Good Understanding by Los Angeles Master Chorale (also includes five other choral works) (Decca/Universal Classics 478 250)[25]
- 2011 – Seeing is Believing by the Aurora Orchestra (Decca/Universal Classics 478 273. Released 10 June 2011.
- 2012 – Drones with Bruce Brubaker (piano), Nadia Sirota (viola) and Pekka Kuusisto (violin) (Bedroom Community HVALUR16)
- 2013 – Cycles with James McVinnie, (organ), Nadia Sirota (viola), Chris Thompson (percussion) and Simon Wall, tenor (Bedroom Community HVALUR19)
- 2014 – Two Boys from the Metropolitan Opera production (Nonesuch Records 541941)
- 2016 – Keep In Touch by Nico Muhly & Nadia Sirota (Bedroom Community HVALUR26)
- 2016 – Confessions by Nico Muhly & Teitur (Nonesuch Records 556783)
- 2017 – Planetarium with Bryce Dessner, James McAlister, and Sufjan Stevens (4AD 4AD0009)
References
Notes
- ↑ Nico Muhly Biography, Nicomuhly.com, retrieved 2012-12-06
- ↑ Bunny Harvey
- 1 2 3 Richards, Charlie. "Boy Wonder", The Advocate, 12 August 2008, Retrieved on 20 November 2017
- ↑ Muhly, Nico (April 28, 2007). "Choral sex". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ↑ Ross, Alex (November 28, 2011). "The Long Haul: Nico Muhly's first two operas". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- 1 2 Davies, Lucie (August 20–27, 2008), "Nico Muhly", Now, pp. Vol. 27, Number 51, retrieved 22 May 2009
- ↑ Speaks Volumes
- ↑ David MacFadden-Elliott (2008). "Nico Muhly". Crawdaddy!. Archived from the original on December 30, 2008.
- ↑ Mothertongue
- ↑ Muhly, Nico (1 March 2009), The Latest News, Nico Muhly, retrieved 5 March 2009
- ↑ "Defining Nico Muhly", NewMusicBox, March 2007]
- ↑ "Nico Muhly work to be given world premiere at Gilmore International Keyboard Festival". Muso. 29 April 2010. Archived from the original on 5 January 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
- ↑ Wakin, Daniel J. (2010-02-13). "Muhly and Lucas's Opera First Met-Lincoln Center Project". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ↑ "Sher to Stage Lucas-Muhly Opera at the Met and English National Opera". Playbill.com. 2010-02-12. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
- ↑ "Does Nico Muhly's new opera live up to the hype?" by Michael White, The Daily Telegraph (28 June 2011)
- ↑ Wakin, Daniel (27 August 2008), "Pop Singer Drops Plan to Compose for the Met", The New York Times, pp. E1, retrieved 13 October 2008
- ↑ "Recording of Metropolitan Opera Production of Nico Muhly's Two Boys Out Now on Nonesuch". Retrieved October 29, 2014.
- ↑ "Luminous Body (world premiere, SPCO commission)". Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. 9 September 2011. Archived from the original on 6 August 2011.
- ↑ "Arts: The Guide – Saturday March 16" by Choire Sicha, The New York Times, April 10, 2005
- ↑ Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra program notes, Laco.org Archived 2010-06-08 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Honest Music, Nico Muhly". Chesternovello.com. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
- ↑ "Confessions tour". Confessions-tour.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
- ↑ Wood, Mikael (20 January 2009), "Review: Antony and the Johnsons' The Crying Light", Boston Phoenix
- ↑ "Run Rabbit Run | Asthmatic Kitty Records". Asthmatickitty.com. 2009-10-06. Retrieved 2012-12-06.
- ↑ "Culture Monster". The Los Angeles Times. 18 June 2010.
Sources
- Mead, Rebecca (February 11, 2008). "Eerily Composed: Nico Muhly's sonic magic". The New Yorker. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- Muhly, Nico (October 5, 2007). "Walls come tumbling down". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- Profile and list of published scores, Music Sales Classical
External links
- Official website
- Nico Muhly discography at Discogs
- Nico Muhly on IMDb