Nico Muhly
b. 1981
American
Summary
Nico Muhly (b.1981) is an American composer and sought-after collaborator whose influences range from American minimalism to the Anglican choral tradition. The recipient of commissions from The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and others, he has written more than 80 works for the concert stage, including the opera Marnie (2017), which premiered at the English National Opera and was staged by the Metropolitan Opera in the fall of 2018.
Muhly is a frequent collaborator with choreographer Benjamin Millepied and, as an arranger, has paired with Sufjan Stevens, Antony and the Johnsons and others. His work for stage and screen include music for the Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie and scores for films including the Academy Award-winning The Reader. Born in Vermont, Muhly studied composition at the Juilliard School before working as an editor and conductor for Philip Glass. He is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008). He lives in New York City.
Podcast Composing Myself - Wise Music Group’s CEO Dave Holley and Creative Director Gill Graham chat to Nico Muhly
Biography
Nico Muhly (b.1981) is an American composer and sought-after collaborator whose influences range from American minimalism to the Anglican choral tradition. The recipient of commissions from The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Philadelphia Orchestra and others, he has written more than 80 works for the concert stage, including the operas Two Boys (2010), Dark Sisters (2011), and Marnie (2017), which premiered at the English National Opera and was staged by the Metropolitan Opera in the fall of 2018; the song cycles Sentences 2015), for countertenor Iestyn Davies, and Impossible Things (2009), for tenor Mark Padmore; a viola concerto for violist Nadia Sirota; the choral works My Days (2011) and Recordare, Domine (2013), written for the Hilliard Ensemble and the Tallis Scholars respectively and most recently Register (2018), a work for organ and orchestra written for James McVinnie and premiered with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Muhly is a frequent collaborator with choreographer Benjamin Millepied and, as an arranger, has paired with Joanna Newsom and Antony and the Johnsons, among others. Planetarium, a large work co-written with Sufjan Stevens and Bryce Dessner, was released on 4AD records. He has composed for stage and screen, with credits that include music for the 2013 Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie and scores for the films Kill Your Darlings; Me; the Academy Award-winning The Reader; and the BAFTA nominated BBC mini-series Howards End. Born in Vermont, Muhly studied composition with John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse at the Juilliard School before working as an editor and conductor for Philip Glass. He is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008). He currently lives in New York City.
News
Performances
31st May 2023
- PERFORMERS
- Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg und Opernchor des Theater Freiburg
- CONDUCTOR
- André de Ridder
- LOCATION
- Theater Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
1st June 2023
- PERFORMERS
- Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg und Opernchor des Theater Freiburg
- CONDUCTOR
- André de Ridder
- LOCATION
- Theater Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
3rd June 2023
- On All ThingsWorld Premiere
- PERFORMERS
- Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford
- CONDUCTOR
- Mark Williams
- LOCATION
- Magdalen College Chapel, Oxford, United Kingdom
8th June 2023
- SOLOISTS
- Katia and Marielle Labèque
- PERFORMERS
- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
- CONDUCTOR
- Karel Deseure
- LOCATION
- Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, United Kingdom
10th June 2023
- PERFORMERS
- The Tallis Scholars
- CONDUCTOR
- Peter Phillips
- LOCATION
- Frauenkirche, Dresden, Germany
Features
- 'Composing Myself' podcast by Wise Music
- Composing Myself is an official Wise Music Group podcast series celebrating Wise Music’s 50th anniversary, presented by CEO Dave Holley and Creative Director Gill Graham. Over the course of this series, they talk to various Wise Music published composers around the world about their lives in and out of music along with excerpts of the composers works included in the podcasts.
- New Opera Highlights from Wise Music Classical
- Wise Music Classical invites you to explore new highlights from our opera catalogue. In these recent and upcoming premieres, new productions, and premiere recordings, our composers and their creative collaborators explore subjects ranging from the historical (Hadrian, X: The Life and Times of Malcom X, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) to the futuristic (Oryx and Crake), the fantastic (El Ultimo Sueño de Frida y Diego, Florencia en el Amazonas, Die Kinder des Sultans) to the thoroughly contemporary (Grounded, Blue, Innocence, The Shell Trial). Threaded throughout these works are perennial themes of loss, longing, magic, art-making, and community.
- Recent Orchestral Highlights
- Discover our selection of new and recent orchestral work now available from the Wise Music Group.
- New works for soloist and orchestra
- Read through this selection of dazzling new works written for some of the world’s top soloists by Wise Music Classical’s composers.
- Choral Highlights 2022
- In recent months and for the season ahead the Wise Music choral catalogues are once again burgeoning with new works. There are new pieces and publications from Richard Allain, Peter Bruun, Britta Byström, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Matthew Martin, Paul Mealor, Nico Muhly, Owain Park, Joby Talbot and Judith Weir, plus new repertoire from recent Australian signing Ross Edwards.