Gregory Spears
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Gregory Spears | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Eastman School of Music, Yale University, Princeton University |
| Occupation | composer |
| Website | www |
Gregory Spears is an American composer of instrumental and operatic works that blend aspects of romanticism, minimalism, and early music. [1] Among his best known works are the opera Paul’s Case and Requiem on New Amsterdam Records. [2]
Background
Spears grew up in Virginia. He attended Eastman School of Music, received a master's degree at Yale University, and earned his PH.D. at Princeton University.[3] He studied with Hans Abrahamsen and Per Nørgård while a Fulbright Scholar at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. [4]
Style
Spears’ music often draws on earlier musical styles processed through contemporary minimalist techniques. [5]
Heidi Waleson describes Spears’ compositional style in her Wall Street Journal review of the opera O Columbia: “Mr. Spears writes brilliantly for vocal ensembles. Starting with neoclassical-style clarity, he builds textured, complex musical structures that sound old and new at the same time, and his skillful text settings use minimalist-like repetition to give Mr. Vavrek's pointed, thoughtful words even more power and emotional specificity.” [6]
Steve Smith, in his New York Times review of the opera Paul's Case, based on the Willa Cather short story of the same title, describes the score: “Mr. Spears’s elegantly spare music, with its gamelan-redolent modes and clockwork repetitions, Baroque vocal fillips, intricately woven ensembles and dramatically placed dissonances, further infuses the tale with a sense of ritual and inevitability.” [7]
David Patrick Stearns, in his Philadelphia Inquirer review of Spears' Requiem, describes his musical influences: "Spears intersperses the swan myth with the requiem text, much of it reflecting lyrical Baltic influences of Arvo Pärt, but with a young composer's restlessness. The swan's song is speculatively re-created with otherworldly vocal ornaments. The piece also contains counterpoint that echoes 16th-century madrigals as well as a modern sense of theatrical timing that keeps your ears on edge until the last note." [8]
Selected works
Opera
- Fellow Travelers, world premiere at Cincinnati Opera, Libretto by Greg Pierce, 2016 [9]
- O Columbia, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Libretto by Royce Vavrek, 2015 [10]
- Paul's Case, world premiere at UrbanArias, Libretto by Kathryn Walat, 2013 [11]
- Wolf in Skins, work-in-progress with choreographer and librettist Christopher Williams [12]
- The Bricklayer, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera, Libretto by Farnoosh Moshiri, 2012 [13]
Chorus and Orchestra
- A New Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei for the Mozart Requiem, commissioned by Seraphic Fire and the Firebird Chamber Orchestra, 2013 [14]
Large Chamber Ensemble
- Virginiana, commissioned by The Damask Ensemble and New Vintage Baroque, 2015 [15]
- Requiem, commissioned by Christopher Williams Dances and released by New Amsterdam Records, 2010 [16]
Small Chamber Ensemble
- Our Lady, written for Ryland Angel and The Sebastian Chamber Players, 2011 [17]
- Buttonwood, commissioned by the JACK Quartet, 2010 [18]
External links
Gregory Spears
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- ^ https://www.newmusicusa.org/profile/gregoryspears/
- ^ http://newamrecords.com/spears-requiem/
- ^ http://music.yale.edu/2015/08/10/gregory-spears-02-mm-wins-carlos-surinach-commission/
- ^ http://www.schott-music.com/shop/persons/az/gregory-gregory-spears/
- ^ http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/02/03/the-opera-lab
- ^ http://www.wsj.com/articles/o-columbia-and-sweeney-todd-reviews-1443477827
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/11/arts/music/urbanarias-presents-operatic-version-of-pauls-case.html
- ^ http://articles.philly.com/2011-11-13/news/30394075_1_caveman-meek-mill-memorable-songs
- ^ http://www.cincinnatiopera.org/
- ^ http://www.wsj.com/articles/o-columbia-and-sweeney-todd-reviews-1443477827?cb=logged0.8753922870382667
- ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/skillful-singers-bring-a-short-story-to-life-in-urbanarias-pauls-case/2013/04/22/691a33de-aab8-11e2-b6fd-ba6f5f26d70e_story.html
- ^ http://articles.philly.com/2013-01-21/news/36447949_1_philadelphia-dance-projects-grand-opera-humans
- ^ http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304636404577291330445460716
- ^ http://southfloridaclassicalreview.com/2013/11/seraphic-fires-premiere-of-complete-mozart-requiem-effectively-blends-old-and-new/
- ^ http://www.classicalite.com/articles/17355/20150219/new-vintage-baroque-damask-ensemble-tour-fated-lovers-program-premiere-gregory-spears-cantata-virginiana.htm
- ^ http://articles.philly.com/2011-11-13/news/30394075_1_caveman-meek-mill-memorable-songs
- ^ https://www.eamdc.com/psny/composers/gregory-spears/works/our-lady/
- ^ https://www.eamdc.com/psny/composers/gregory-spears/works/buttonwood/