Anthony Gatto (composer)

Anthony Gatto (born December 3, 1962 in Brooklyn, New York), is an American composer of music for theater, dance, film, opera, and concert music. He is also the founder of The Festival Dancing in Your Head, held at the Walker Art Center, dedicated to the music, ideas, and influences of Ornette Coleman.

This is the article about the composer. For the juggler, see Anthony Gatto.
Anthony Gatto
Born(1962-12-03)December 3, 1962
Brooklyn, New York, United States
EraContemporary
Known forFestival Dancing in Your Head
The Making of Americans
Wise Blood

Biography

Gatto holds music composition degrees from Yale University, Doctor of Musical Arts 2001, University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from Grinnell College. He was a private student of Ornette Coleman from 1986-88. His other teachers include Jacob Druckman, Martin Bresnick, Ezra Laderman, Lukas Foss, Donald Grantham, Dan Welcher, and Béla Bartók scholar Elliott Antokoletz. Anthony Gatto is an Associate Professor of Music at City University of New York.

His first recognition as a composer came with an ASCAP Grant to Young Composers, for an opera excerpt based on the revolution of Nicolae Ceauşescu. He received a Fulbright Program Fellowship in for composition in Berlin, Germany; He has received fellowships from the Bush Foundation, and the McKnight Foundation, and several grants from the Jerome Foundation; two Aaron Copland House Residency awards; a New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship in Music; several residencies at Yaddo, Millay Colony for the Arts, Willapa Bay Artist-in-Residence, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

Wise Blood, an opera based on the novel by Flannery O'Connor

His opera Wise Blood, based on the novel Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor, premiered in June 2015 in collaboration with Minnesota-based media artist Chris Larson. With a cross-media libretto written by Gatto after the novel by Flannery O'Connor, the immersive opera exhibition was co-commissioned and co-presented by the Walker Art Center and The Soap Factory.

The "last 12 minutes" of Wise Blood, featuring Gelsey Bell as Mrs. Flood, can be heard via this link: Wise Blood: "last 12 minutes"

Review of the world premiere of Wise Blood by Minnesota Public Radio: "Wise Blood: 'Opera exhibition' at the Soap Factory is a Stunner'" by Jay Gabler: "Gatto both adapted the libretto and wrote the score, which requires a large brass band (the Adam Meckler Orchestra) that evokes the story's southern setting... Gatto's contemporary style is somber and atmospheric, veering from unsettlingly clamorous to eerily serene. Though there are comic moments in the show, laughter dies quickly and may be replaced by tears; in its total effect, the piece is almost an American requiem."

See several excerpts and the full video of the Minneapolis 2015 performances of the opera Wise Blood here.

The Making of Americans, an opera based on the novel by Gertrude Stein

Gatto's opera, The Making of Americans, based on the novel by Gertrude Stein, was commissioned by the Walker Art Center and premiered in two sold-out shows in December 2008.[1] In 2020, American Experience Recordings released a radio opera version of The Making of Americans, based on 2019 revisions to the score and libretto by the composer.

His quintet for guitar and string quartet "Black Dog/Lucky Dog" was performed by the new-music string quartet ETHEL with Mark Stewart. The work expands the opening of Led Zeppelin's song "Black Dog".[2] A performance of Black Dog/Lucky Dog can be heard via this link: Black Dog/Lucky Dog

References
  1. "An Opera Anthony Gatto based on the novel by Gertrude Stein". Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  2. Kozinn, Allan (2 November 2002). "MUSIC REVIEW; A Rock Band's Effects In a String Quartet Sound". New York Times. pp. B14. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
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