When Boston Ruled the Music World

When I moved to Massachusetts in the mid-1970s to start a doctorate at Boston University, there was a specific professor I wanted to study with: the formidable pianist Leonard Shure.

But Shure was hardly the only renowned pedagogue in Boston. The city had at that point long been a hub of academic music, with distinguished programs at Harvard, Brandeis and Boston universities, the New England Conservatory, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Media File 
Media Date 
April 9, 2021
Media Source 
The New York Times
Media Location 
New York, NY
Media 
Media Contact Name 
Anthony Tommasini

Textura reviews Gunther Schuller: The Fisherman and His Wife

In certain respects, The Fisherman and His Wife picks up where last year's recording by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and Odyssey Opera, the 2020 Grammy Award-winning Fantastic Mister Fox, left off. Both are delightful, ‘family friendly' operas based on endearing tales, Roald Dahl for Tobias Picker's and The Brothers Grimm (its libretto adaptation by John Updike) for Gunther Schuller's.

Media Date 
June 24, 2020
Media Source 
Textura
Media Location 
Boston, MA
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Gapplegate reviews Gunther Schuller: The Fisherman and His Wife

The late Gunther Schuller (1925-2015) was enormously influential on the American musical scene as I grew up. He was a Modern composer of great breadth and originality, one of the main forces behind so-called Third Stream Music which sought to meld Classical and Jazz, a major innovator in music education in his leading role at the New England Conservatory, and a musicologist and author of great consequence, writing among other things the classic Early Jazz.

Media Date 
May 7, 2020
Media Source 
Gapplegate
Media Location 
Boston, MA
Media 
Media Quote 
Media Contact Name 
Grego Applegate Edwards
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Sequenza21 reviews David Felder: Les Quatre temps Cardinaux

David Felder has taught for a number of years at SUNY Buffalo, running the June in Buffalo Festival and mentoring countless contemporary composers in the school’s illustrious graduate program. His own works are multi-faceted, incorporating muscular gestures, modernist harmonies, innovative timbres, and, oftentimes, electronics. Felder’s recent music is given sterling performances on two CDs, one of his chamber music on Coviello and another of his orchestra piece Les Quatre Temps Cardinaux on BMOPsound.

Media File 
Media Date 
May 4, 2020
Media Source 
Sequenza21
Media Location 
Boston, MA
Media 
Media Quote 
Media Contact Name 
Christian Carey
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Avant Music News reviews Steven Mackey: Time Release

Each piece in Steven Mackey’s album Time Release demonstrates his ability to incorporate varied and imaginative orchestral textures and gestures into a cohesive narrative. Mackey’s music has neo-romantic elements, comprising gestural melodic expression and dialectical forms.  He largely uses extended tonality with chromaticism. However, there are frequent non-diatonic and polytonal interjections that are vaguely reminiscent of Charles Ives’ music, as well as textural sections with disorienting pitch content. Notably, Mackey employs these extended tonal sonorities without sounding trite or cinematic.  The well-balanced and masterful orchestration of Mackey’s music is handled equally masterfully by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s performance of the work.

Media Date 
April 20, 2020
Media Source 
Avant Music News
Media Location 
Boston, MA
Media 
Media Quote 
Media Contact Name 
Thomas McGee
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Steven Mackey in Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review

The latest volume of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project finds Gil Rose directing the orchestra for a selection of interesting and contrasting works by Steven Mackey (b 1956). It is entitled Time Release (BMOP 1068) after the 2005 work that is a centerpiece of the program.

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Media Date 
January 7, 2020
Media Source 
Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review
Media Location 
Boston, MA
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Fanfare reviews Fantastic Mr. Fox

It's sometimes easy to forget that opera has a playful side, given its preponderance for serious and downright dark subject matter. Indulging that lighter side comes in handy for introducing young people to it in a manner that is both accessible and, dare I say, "fun" (in other words, maybe not Wagner or Britten). Tobias Picker's Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the Roald Dahl story, is a worthy candidate for such an endeavor.

Media File 
Media Date 
January 1, 2020
Media Source 
Fanfare Magazine
Media Location 
Boston, MA
Media 
Media Contact Name 
Andrew Desiderio

Gramophone review of Fantastic Mr. Fox

Opera has done much during the past few decades to shed its elite, high-art credentials. In many ways, children's opera ticks all the right boxes in terms of accessibility, communication and participation, yet it's a genre that remains somewhat neglected. The American composer Tobias Picker's adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel Fantastic Mr Fox could change all that.

Media Date 
November 1, 2019
Media Source 
Gramophone
Media Location 
Boston, MA
Media 
Media Contact Name 
Pwyllap Sion

South Shore Critic reviews FMF

Tobias Picker: Fantastic Mr. Fox is the official title of a new compact disc release of the opera by Picker, the current Artistic Director of Tulsa Opera, who pulls off the almost impossible feat of composing an opera that is aimed directly at families, not just children; that is, children of all ages. With his welcome use of melodic tonal lyricism, even though a modern piece, and the caustically witty Libretto by Donald Sturrock, this work is sure to charm listeners of any vintage.

Media Date 
June 21, 2019
Media Source 
South Shore Critic
Media Location 
Boston, MA
Media 
Media Quote 
Media Contact Name 
Jack Craib
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ARG reviews Fantastic Mr. Fox

Elsewhere in this iuue I reviewed David Stanhope's opera of Dracula. lamentlng in essence that it was bland, given its subject matter. I also think it has somethlng to do with being able to compose an opera. Tobias Picker knows how to compose an opera and has written a number of excellent works for the stage. Fantastic Mr. Fox (adapted from the Rolad Dahl stories) is delightful from beginning to end. The music is hummable, expertly crafted, and a joy to listen to. There are arias, duets, trios, and even more complicated ensembles.

Media File 
Media Date 
November 1, 2019
Media Source 
American Record Guide
Media Location 
Boston, MA
Media 
Media Quote 
Media Contact Name 
David Reynolds
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