BIOGRAPHY
Stephen Dickman, composer, was recently commissioned by Mutable Music to compose a chamber opera, GILGAMESH, scored for baritone, mezzo-soprano, violin, cello, flute and percussion. GILGAMESH was premiered in New York City June 2002 at La Mama. THE YELLOW WALLPAPER, adapted from the short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, for soprano, piano and cello, was premiered in July of 2003 at the Music Festival of the Hamptons in Bridgehampton, NY.
Dickman earned his B.A. in Music Composition and Theory in 1965 from Bard College, where he studied with Jacob Druckman; and an M.F.A. in 1968 from Brandeis University, which he attended on a fellowship, studying with Arthur Berger and Harold Shapero. While there he received two BMI Student Composer Awards (1968 and 1969) and the Colombia University Joseph H. Bearns Prize (1969). Following a fellowship to the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood (1968), he moved to New York City. There with playwright Richard Foreman, Dickman wrote his first opera, REAL MAGIC IN NEW YORK, a radically minimalist work which was premiered at the Film-Makers Cinematheque in Soho in 1970. After a New York Composer's Forum in 1971, he was awarded a Fulbright to Rome (1971-1972). He remained in Europe and Asia for four years. While traveling, he wrote MUSICAL JOURNEYS, four volumes exploring primary musical ideas.
In 1973 Dickman was invited to Bombay, India to study sarangi (a bowed Indian instrument) with Pandit Ram Narayan. This work led to his SONG CYCLE FOR THREE VIOLINS AND THREE SOPRANOS, settings of the poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi (CRI 498). Continuing his exploration of scale inspired by his study of Indian music, Dickman wrote THE WHEELS OF EZEKIEL (1985) for chamber orchestra and TREES AND OTHER INCLINATIONS (1983) for piano (both on OPUS ONE 140) and ORCHESTRA BY THE SEA (1983) for full orchestra. His MAXIMUS SONG CYCLE (1986), with poetry by Charles Olson, was premiered in 1987. Also in 1987 Stephen Dickman began a collaboration with librettist Gary Glickman on a new opera TIBETAN DREAMS. In 1989 this work received the National Endowment for the Arts, Artist as Producer/New American Works Award. With the help of this grant the opera was completed and produced in New York City in October of 1990 at the Cunningham Dance Studio. Dickman was awarded both an American Composers Forum Commission to set the poem of a Montauk Native American to music in celebration of the 1998 350th Birthday Celebration of East Hampton and a Timeline Suffolk Decentralization Grant in 1998 .
In November of 1999 New World Records released an entire CD of Dickman?s music. This includes FOUR FOR TOM for baritone and piano, INDIAN WELLS for piano, RABBI NATHAN?S PRAYER for soprano and violin, THE MUSIC OF ERIC ZANN for baritone solo and WHO SAYS WORDS for baritone and cello.
HONORS AND PRIZES:
American Composers Forum Commission (350th Anniversary of East Hampton), 1998.
Timeline Suffolk Decentralization Grant, 1998.
Meet the Composer Fund Award, 1990, 1995 & 1996, 2002.
SOS Grant/East End Arts Council & NY Foundation for the Arts,'95,'98,'99,'02.
Meet the Composer/Composer in Residence, 1995.
NEA/Artist as Producer of New American Works Award, 1989.
CAP Award, 1987, 1990, 2002.
Fulbright Fellowship, Rome, 1971.
Composer's Forum, New York City, 1970.
BMI Student Composer's Award, 1968 & 1969.
Fellowship, Berkshire Music Center, 1968.
The Joseph H. Bearns Prize of Colombia University, 1968.
Fellowship, Bennington Composer's Conference, 1967.
Samuel Wechsler Music Award, 1967.
Graduate Fellowship, Brandeis University, 1965-1968.
MAJOR REVIEWS
GILGAMESH, A CHAMBER OPERA
Telling a Very Old Story, Tossing Pages to the Wind
Melody hovers beneath the music at all times, breaking out in jewel-colored miniature episodes, particularly when the vibraphone chimes in in silvery punctuation, or when the violin doubles a spoken voice.
By ANNE MIDGETTE, June 25, 2002, The New York Times
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"WHO SAYS WORDS" (New World Records #80573-2)
Here's a disc for fans of the cult pulp horror master H. P.Lovecraft. Composer Stephen Dickman's specialty is to "set" texts (poems, prayers, prose) by various authors into musical structures of his own design. In this case, the major work here is a performance of Lovecraft's short story "The Music Of Eric Zann" by baritone Thomas Bruckner (known for his work in Robert Ashley's operas). ... the mesmerizing rhythms of Bruckner's narration begin to have a...disturbing effect. ... it really starts to sound like Bruckner is losing his mind--the typical fate of all Lovecraft protagonists! Bizarre and ludicrous, perhaps, but pretty cool. The rest of the disc is great too, with one text-less piano piece of great beauty, as well as more singing by both Bruckner and soprano Elizabeth Farnum, of texts by Rumi, Milarepa, and Rabbi Nathan of Bratslav. These tracks feature either piano or violin accompaniment.
Aquarius Records New Arrivals #84 -- February 1 2000
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TIBETAN DREAMS, AN OPERA IN THREE ACTS
Music: Stephen Dickman/Libretto: Gary Glickman
"Dickman poses a challenge to the various modes that have dominated operatic composition in recent years. Unlike the Serialists, he gives the listener discernible melodies; unlike the Traditionalists, he presents melodies in scales of his own devising; and unlike the Minimalists, he takes seriously the relation of words to music. Dickman's is not only a throughly original approach, but one that suggests a path for others to follow."
Herbert Lindenberger, THE HISTORY IN LITERATURE: VALUE, GENRE, INSTITUTION
Colombia University Press 1990
TIBETAN DREAMS' "score, which is lovely and rich, is filled with logically recurring leitmotifs and lush string textures, qualities that put the work as close as can be to Germanic tradition."
"Where the work charts its own path is in its musical language. Mr. Dickman has found a way to make East meet West."
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, 22 October 1990
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Composers Recordings, Inc. CRI SD 498
Three Songs for Three Sopranos and Three Violins
THE SONG OF THE REED (1975) Words: Jelalaldin Rumi
MY LOVE MAKES ME LONELY (1976) Words: Stephen Dickman
LOVE, THE HIEROPHANT (1976) Words: Jelalaldin Rumi
Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Fabian Sydnor and Nancy Young, sopranos
Benjamin Hudson, Joel Lester and Carol Zeavin, violinists
conducted by Arthur Weisberg
The overall effect is of a hypnotic ritual and exotic folk music, yet quite modern. Fresh and individual. A carefully composed work that pays close attention to fine detail. Highly recommended.
D.S., Fanfare Magazine, May/June 1984
Dickman's fascinating, Asia-inspired settings of one his own poems and two by the thirteenth-century Persian poet/philosopher, Jalaul-Din Rumi. Dickman's love songs weave melodies that superbly point up the interrelationships among Western antiphonal techniques, Asian idioms and what we in the eighties have come to call minimalism.
Karen Monson, Ovation Record Review, vol. 5, no. 12, January 1985
Fascinating even to repeated listenings. This is an impressive release that should be studied by serious singers.
Charles Shere, The Oakland Tribune, June 17, 1984
The first and third of the selections...a whirlwind of spinning melismas. The middle song, My Love Makes Me Lonely, is a setting of dovetailed voices and drone violin of one of the composer?s own poems, a haunting soliloquy that eloquently expresses not only the sadness but also the despair that so often accompanies a bout of unrequited love.
James Wierzbicki, Musical America, October 1984
It is hypnotic listening. One finds the ear following dimensions of sound other than traditional harmonic relationships and this is fascinating.
Disc Discussion, November/December 1984