Michael Torke’s newest recording is a unique set of pieces for solo piano, intermediate level, titled Sessions, 3 A.M. Recorded by the composer and now available on Ecstatic Records, the work brings the composer’s unique style to a set of pieces that can be played by a pianists and students of varying skill levels.
Order the sheet music here.
Order the CD here.
Following up on the incredible success of his recording of Being Michael Torke has released a new work on Ecstatic Records, Psalms and Cancticles. Featuring the talented singer Lydia Brown, this promises to be a new major work in Torke’s catalogue. The study score is available for purchase here.
Michael Torke’s Sky, performed by violinist Tessa Lark and the Albany Symphony (David Alan Miller, conductor) was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award as Best Classical Instrumental Solo. Sky was also selected as a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
Torke’s ground-breaking work fuses bluegrass with his unique original musical voice to create a new, fresh take on the traditional violin concerto. The work was commissioned by a consortium of 11 orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, and has been received with resounding acclaim.
Michael Torke’s new piano concerto, Three Manhattan Bridges, will be premiered by the Albany Symphony on December 19, with Joyce Yang as soloist. Torke performed as soloist in his first piano concerto in 1994, which was also premiered by the Albany Symphony with David Alan Miller as conductor.
Torke talks about the association with Albany: “I am thrilled to have a long association with a great orchestra like the Albany Symphony. They bring a depth of understanding to their performances of my music, and David Alan Miller is a commanding, and at the same time, sensitive interpreter.”
Albany Records will be releasing a recording of Three Manhattan Bridges (Joyce Yang, Soloist and the Albany Symphony) along with Winter’s Tale, Torke’s new cello concerto that he wrote for Julie Albers and which The Albany Symphony premiered last season.
For an interview with Torke and Miller, click here.
Believing that the creation of art should mark every special occasion, OPERA America commissioned the OPERA America Songbook in celebration of the opening of the National Opera Center in September 2012. Composers with strong ties to the organization were invited to write a song for voice and piano on the theme of opening a new home, the joy of singing or the excitement of new beginnings. This collection of songs represents the distinctive voices of some of today’s most important established and emerging opera composers. Produced by OPERA America, the Songbook was recorded, edited and mastered at Gurari Studios in New York City in the summer of 2012.
Both audio recordings and a published collection are available for the Songbook.
Purchase recordings from ITunes.
Purchase sheet music from Hal Leonard.
On October 5, the Quad City Symphony gave the premiere of a new concert opener by veteran orchestra composer, Michael Torke. Led by music director Mark Russell Smith, the concert was followed by a second performance in Augustana College’s Centennial Hall a day later. According to Torke:
Oracle was composed in a burst of creative energy from mid-June to mid-July. “I think this is going to be one of the best pieces I’ve ever written,” Torke predicted the day after the five-minute composition was completed. “I am so jazzed up about it. It starts off with this kind of ‘Pines of Rome’ thing, with one variation of the melody warm and juicy, and another noble.”
He said the short duration of the commission allowed him to “obsess over the orchestration, help the audience focus on what I’m doing with the music, where every detail is clearly heard.” Torke described the result as “very thematic, based on melodic intervals” as opposed to a 12-tone row, or static tones with varying rhythms. Fundamentally, he wanted the music “grounded in American sounds, [similar to] the pandiatonicism” found in the music of Aaron Copland.
When asked about the title, Torke said, “Titles are something I agonize over. They can help a piece live or die.” As a springboard to naming the work, Torke imagined “the audience just settling into their seats and the conductor walks out … the opening piece of the concert and the season.” Inspired by the Oracle of Delphi, the ancient Greek priestess known for her prophecies, Torke realized his mission was musically foreshadowing both the concert and the season.
Torke also said color informs the title. He experiences music as a synesthete, someone who, in his case, “involuntarily sees colors” when he hears music. In Oracle, Torke said he “sees an off-white, creamy color … travertine” that recalls marble – another link to ancient Greece, but also to the rock’s use in concert halls across the country. The composer originally considered using “Travertine” as the title but rejected the idea because “it didn’t really tell you the emotions involved in the music.”
This year’s National Flute Association Convention saw the premiere of Michael Torke’s Daffodils for flute and piano. Commissioned by Emily Skala for the occasion of Bonnie Boyd’s “Lifetime Achievement Award” Tribute Concert, it was premiered on August 12, 2012, in Las Vegas, Nevada as part of the NFA’s annual convention.
The title refers to Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Act IV, Scene 4:
“…daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty.”
The band world constantly embraces new literature, but there is a surprising dearth of strong works for the earlier grades. To meet that demand, Michael Torke has created The Torque Series. Each work in this series is approximately 4 minutes long, at a grade 4 difficulty level, yet still filled with the color and vitality of Torke’s well-known and often performed orchestra works. The first works that are available are:
They can be played individually or together in any combination. Click here to see the instrumentation for each title.
The premiere performance of the Torque Series was given by the Midwest Young Artists Honors Wind Symphony, James Ripley, conductor, on May 5, 2013 at Bennett Gordon Concert Hall, Ravinia, in Highland Park, IL.
