Michael Shapiro
Michael Shapiro 2002
Michael Shapiro 2002
Background information
GenresClassical music
OccupationsComposer, conductor, pianist
Websitewww.michaelshapiro.com

Michael Jeffrey Shapiro is an American composer, conductor, and author.

The son of a Klezmer band clarinetist, Michael Shapiro spent most of his high school years in Baldwin, a Long Island suburb, where he was a music student of Consuelo Elsa Clark, William Zurcher, and Rudolf Bosakowski. The winner of several piano competitions during his youth, he earned his B.A. at Columbia College, Columbia University, where he majored in English literature and concentrated in music, benefiting most—according to his own assessment—from some of the department's stellar musicology faculty, He studied conducting independently with Carl Bamberger at the Mannes College of Music in New York and later with Harold Farberman at Bard College. At The Juilliard School, where he earned his master's degree, he studied solfège with Renée Longy. His composition teachers were Elie Siegmeister, Sir Malcolm Arnold, and Vincent Persichetti.

Shapiro is Laureate Conductor of the Chappaqua Orchestra in New York’s Westchester County, which he conducted for the world premiere of his score for the classic 1931 film Frankenstein (directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff) (which has since its premiere received over sixty productions internationally including the West Coast premiere of its operatic version at the LA Opera and the East Coast premiere at the Atlanta Opera), as well as for the world premiere of his own orchestral work, Roller Coaster, which received its West Coast premiere under the baton of Marin Alsop in 2010 at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music while Shapiro was a composer in residence. He served for two years as the music consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., where he produced and performed music by a number of composers who were either murdered by the Germans and their collaborators or had survived as refugees from the Third Reich. He has also been the assistant conductor at the Zurich Opera Studio. He has conducted many orchestras including in the U.K. the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Michael Shapiro's exclusive publisher is Universal Edition Vienna.

Selected work

Opera

  • The Love of Don Perlimplin and Belisa in the Garden, libretto by Michael Shapiro based on the play by Federico García Lorca - a one-act opera written in 1984 and premiered by the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, John Edward Niles, conductor, Darko Tresnjak, stage director.
  • Frankenstein-The Movie Opera, soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass, and chamber orchestra (text the Latin Requiem Mass), premiered at the LA Opera.
  • The Slave, based on the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer - a two act opera (in preparation)(libretto by Hannah McDermott)

Film scores

Symphonies

  • Symphony Pomes Penyeach based on the poems of James Joyce
  • Second Symphony, recorded by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Orchestra

  • A Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 for narrator and orchestra, premiered by Jose Ferrer, narrator, Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of Westchester, Martin Rich, conductor, during the Bicentennial
  • Lyric Variations for chamber orchestra
  • like the roaring sea for orchestra
  • Frankenstein-The Overture, recorded by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
  • Frankenstein-The Movie Score (two orchestral versions - chamber ensemble (15 players) and full orchestra)
  • The Headless Horseman for narrator and orchestra
  • Perlimplinito, Opera Sweet, a lace paper valentine for orchestra, premiered by the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, John Edward Niles, conductor, and recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
  • Widorama! for orchestra, recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
  • Roller Coaster for orchestra, premiered by the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music Orchestra, Marin Alsop, conductor, and recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
  • The Babbling Orchestra for narrator and orchestra

Band

  • Roller Coaster for band
  • Widorama! for band, premiered by Jerry Junkin conducting the Dallas Winds
  • Frankenstein-The Overture for wind ensemble
  • Frankenstein-The Movie Score for wind ensemble, premiered by Michael Shapiro conducting the Dallas Winds
  • Bamboula for band, premiered by Matthew Thomas Troy conducting the Piedmont Wind Symphony
  • A Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 for narrator and band
  • Ol' Mississippi Sings the Blues for band, dedicated to Blind Mississippi Morris and premiered by Albert Nguyen conducting the University of Memphis Wind Ensemble, and David Kehler conducting the Kennesaw State University Wind Ensemble
  • In Every One for band
  • American Interludes for band

Concerti

  • Sinfonia Concertante for violin, violoncello, and orchestra
  • Concerto for guitar and strings, premiered by David Tanenbaum, guitar, and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Brad Keimach, conductor
  • Concerto for harp and strings
  • Archangel Concerto for piano and orchestra, premiered by Steven Beck, piano, and Michael Shapiro conducting the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
  • At the Shore of the Sea, Concerto for violin and orchestra
  • In the Light of the Sun, Concerto for flute and orchestra

Chamber

  • String Quartet (Yiddish), premiered by the Hawthorne String Quartet and recorded by Argus Quartet
  • Piano Quintet, premiered by the Locrian Chamber Ensemble and recorded by Argus Quartet and Steven Beck, piano
  • Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano
  • Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano, premiered and recorded by Tim Fain, violin, and Steven Beck, piano
  • Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, premiered by John Fullam, clarinet, and Michael Shapiro, piano
  • Sextet for Piano and Winds
  • Shir for Flute and Piano
  • Yiddishkeit for Clarinet and Piano (alt. Violin and Piano or Cello and Piano)
  • Musical Chairs for brass quintet (French Horn, two trumpets, trombone, and premiered by the Dallas Winds
  • American Realists for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano
  • Watching the Students Grow for two Flutes and Piano

Solo Instrumental

  • Eliahu Hanavi Variations - for solo violoncello, recorded by Sato Knudsen (Boston Symphony Orchestra)
  • Peace Variations- for solo violin, recorded by Tim Fain
  • Kaddish-Berakhot-Nigun - for solo flute

Piano

  • Five Preludes
  • Mysteries
  • Sonata No. 1
  • Sonata No. 2, premiered by Jerome Rose at the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
  • Bitter(sweet) Waltzes, premiered and recorded by Steven Beck
  • Passages, premiered and recorded by Steven Beck
    • Creation
    • Babel
    • In the Wilderness
    • Hannah
    • A Light
    • Ruth
    • Naso
    • The Deluge
    • Hineni! (Here I Stand!)
  • American Interludes, dedicated to Lara Downes
    • Calming
    • Tending
    • In Every One

Choral

  • Three Psalms (SSAA a capella)
  • Psalm 137 (SATB and organ)
  • Three Shakespeare Madrigals (SATB a capella)
  • There is that in me (Walt Whitman) (SATB and ensemble)
  • Spanish Medieval Lyrics (SSATB a capella)
  • Voices based on Sephardic poetry of the Holocaust (soprano soloist, SATB, and chamber ensemble), oratorio in eight movements, premiered and recorded by Daniel Mutlu, Ember Choral Arts, American Modern Ensemble, Deborah Simpkin King
  • In Paradisum(SATBariB and ensemble)
  • Cultivo una rosa blanca (Jose Marti) (SATB and piano)

Song cycles

Recordings

Recordings include:

  • Eliahu Hanavi Variations - Sato Knudsen ('cello) (Naxos Records, Milken Archive of Jewish American Music)
  • Variation - Peace Variations - Tim Fain (violin) and Eliahu Hanavi Variations - Sato Knudsen ('cello) (Paumanok Records)
  • Second Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
  • Overture to Frankenstein-The Movie Score, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
  • Second Sonata for Violin and Piano, Tim Fain (violin) and Steven Beck (piano) (Paumanok Records)
  • Archangel Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Steven Beck (piano), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
  • Roller Coaster, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
  • Perlimplinito, Opera Sweet, A Lace Paper Valentine for orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
  • Widorama!, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records)
  • Michael's Songbook, Vol. I, Ariadne Greif, soprano, Michael Shapiro, piano (recordings of Canciones and Dublin Songs) (Paumanok Records)
  • Passages, Interludes, and Bitter(Sweet) Waltzes, Steven Beck, piano (Paumanok Records)
  • Voices, Daniel Mutlu, tenor, Ember Choral Arts, American Modern Ensemble, Deborah Simpkin King, conductor (Paumanok Records)
  • Yiddish Quartet and Piano Quintet, Argus Quartet and Steven Beck, piano (Paumanok Records)

References

  • ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, R. Bowker LLC (January 1981) ISBN 0-8352-1283-1
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