The music of Michael Torke has been called "some of the most optimistic, joyful and thoroughly uplifting music to appear in recent years" (Gramophone). Hailed as a "vitally inventive composer" (Financial Times) and "a master orchestrator whose shimmering timbral palette makes him the Ravel of his generation" (New York Times), Michael Torke has created a substantial body of works in virtually every genre, each with a characteristic personal stamp that combines restless rhythmic energy with ravishingly beautiful melodies.
By any measure, Torke is one of the most successful composers of his generation as well, as evidenced by two large-scale, high-profile pieces that premiered during 1999. Strawberry Fields, a one-act opera jointly commissioned by Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera, and WNET’s "Great Performances" television program (PBS) made its debut at Glimmerglass in July to widespread critical acclaim. Four Seasons, a 62-minute symphonic oratorio for vocal soloists, two choruses, and large orchestra was commissioned by The Disney Company in celebration of the new millennium; Kurt Masur conducted the New York Philharmonic in the work’s premiere in October, to equally rousing response.
One of Torke’s most frequently performed orchestral pieces is Javelin (1994), a "sonic olympiad" commissioned by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympics in celebration of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s 50th anniversary season. In the spring of 1996, two different recordings of Javelin were simultaneously released - a rare occurrence for a contemporary composition. The first recording, featuring the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Yoel Levi, was the fourth all-Torke CD to be released by Decca’s Argo label. The second recording is on Sony Classical’s Summon the Heroes, the official centenary Olympics album featuring the Boston Pops conducted by John Williams, which reached the Number One position on Billboard’s Classical Crossover chart.
Vocal music has played a prominent role in Torke’s recent output. In Four Proverbs (1993) for female voice and ensemble, Torke manipulates words in the same way that he has manipulated thematic cells in his earlier works and, in so doing, creates a unique symbiotic relationship between language and music. This technique is further explored in Book of Proverbs (1996), for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra, which received its world premiere in Holland in September 1996 with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Choir conducted by Edo de Waart. His opera King of Hearts (1993), which was commissioned for British television (Channel 4) and broadcast in January 1995, received its stage premiere at the 1996 Aspen Festival.
With two of his most widely-performed works, Ecstatic Orange and The Yellow Pages (both written in 1985 while Torke was still a composition student at Yale), Torke practically defined post-minimalism, a music which utilizes the repetitive structures of a previous generation to incorporate musical techniques from both the classical tradition and the contemporary pop world. From these initial kinetic scores, Torke’s music has developed toward larger, more expansive forms allowing for greater textural variation and longer, sweeping themes.
Over the past decade, Torke’s vibrant music has strongly appealed to choreographers including: Ulysses Dove (Alvin Ailey, New York City Ballet), James Kudelka (San Francisco Ballet), Jiri Killian (Netherlands Dance Theater), and Peter Martins (New York City Ballet), who has choreographed seven of Torke’s compositions to date (four of which were NYCB commissions). Many of these scores can be heard on the six Decca/Argo CDs devoted to his music: Vanada etc. (Argo 430 209); Color Music (Argo 433 071); Music on the Floor (Argo 443 528); Javelin (Argo 452 101); Overnight Mail (Argo 455 684); and Book of Proverbs (Argo 466721).
In 1997 Torke was appointed the first Associate Composer of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Highlights of his residency have included the U.K. premiere of Book of Proverbs and the European premiere of Jasper. The orchestra has commissioned a percussion concerto for the young Scottish percussionist Colin Currie for premiere in 2001. In addition, Torke is taking an active role in programming and in the RSNO’s education program.