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Thomas Pasatieri (born October 20, 1945) is an American opera composer.

Life and career [ edit ]

Pasatieri was born in New York City , United States . He began composing at age 10 and, as a teenager, studied with Nadia Boulanger , ^[1] although his main teachers were Vittorio Giannini and Vincent Persichetti . ^[2] He entered the Juilliard School at age 16 and eventually became the school's first recipient of a doctoral degree.

Pasatieri has taught composition at the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music , and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. From 1980 through 1984, he held the post of artistic director at Atlanta Opera .

He has composed 24 operas, the best known of which is The Seagull , composed in 1972. Two of his operas were premiered in 2007: Frau Margot by the Fort Worth Opera and The Hotel Casablanca in San Francisco . Other popular operas include La Divina and Signor Deluso .

In 1984, Pasatieri moved to Los Angeles, California , where he formed his film music production company, Topaz Productions. His film orchestrations can be heard in Billy Bathgate , Road to Perdition , American Beauty , The Little Mermaid , The Shawshank Redemption , Fried Green Tomatoes , Legends of the Fall , Thomas Newman 's Angels in America and Scent of a Woman , among many others. In 2003, Pasatieri returned to New York to continue his concert and opera career.

Works [ edit ]

Operas [ edit ]

• The Trysting Place , opera in one act; libretto by the composer (1964, unperformed)
• Flowers of Ice , opera in one act; libretto by the composer (1964, unperformed)
• The Women , opera in one act; libretto by the composer (20 August 1965; Aspen, CO)
• La Divina , opera in one act; libretto by the composer (16 March 1966; New York)
• Padrevia , opera in one act; libretto by the composer after Boccaccio (18 November 1967; Brooklyn, NY)
• Calvary , opera in one act; setting of the play by W. B. Yeats (April 1971; Bellevue, WA)
• The Trial of Mary Lincoln , opera in one act; libretto by A. H. Bailey (14 Feb. 1972; National Educational Television )
• Black Widow , opera in three acts; libretto by the composer after Dos madres by Miguel de Unamuno (2 March 1972; Seattle Opera )
• The Seagull , opera in three acts; libretto by K. Elmslie after the story by Anton Chekov (5 March 1974; Houston Grand Opera )
• Signor Deluso , opera in one act; libretto by the composer after Sganarelle by Moliere (27 July 1974; Vienna, VA)
• The Penitentes , opera in three acts; libretto by A. H. Bailey (3 August 1974; Aspen, CO)
• Ines de Castro , opera in three acts; libretto by B. Stambler (1 April 1976; Baltimore, Baltimore Opera )
• Washington Square , opera in two acts; libretto by K. Elmslie after Henry James (1 October 1976, Detroit, Michigan Opera Theatre )
• Before Breakfast , opera in one act; libretto by Frank Corsaro, based on the play by Eugene O’Neill , Revised 2006. (9 October 1980, New York City Opera )
• The Goose Girl , a children's opera in one act; libretto by the composer, based on a story by J. L. and W. C. Grimm (15 February 1981, Fort Worth, Texas)
• Maria Elena , an opera in one act; libretto by the composer based on a true story (6 April 1983, University of Arizona )
• Three Sisters , opera in 2 acts; libretto by Kenward Elmslie based on Anton Chekhov 's play, Three Sisters (13 March 1986, Columbus, Opera Columbus )
• Frau Margot , opera in three acts; libretto by Frank Corsaro , based on his original play Lyric Suite (2 June 2007, Fort Worth, Fort Worth Opera )
• The Hotel Casablanca , opera in two acts; original libretto by the composer based on George Feydeau 's play, A Flea in Her Ear . (3 August 2007, San Francisco, San Francisco Opera Merola Program )
• The Heir Apparent (2008)
• The Family Room , libretto by Daphne Malfitano (2009)
• God Bless Us Everyone (after A Christmas Carol ), an opera for Christmas (2010)
• The Martyrs , libretto by Daphne Malfitano, an opera in two acts for two singers and piano solo (2011)
• The Vaudevillian (2015) Opera in two acts; libretto by the composer.

Orchestral [ edit ]

• Invocation (1968)
• Symphony No. 1
• Symphony No. 2
• Symphony No. 3

Concertante [ edit ]

• Serenade for violin and chamber orchestra (also an alternate version for violin and piano) (1992)
• Concerto for piano and orchestra (1993)
• Concerto for 2 pianos and strings (1994)
• Concerto for harpsichord and chamber orchestra (2007)
• Concerto for viola and orchestra (2012)

Instrumental and chamber music [ edit ]

• Piano Sonata No. 1 (1966)
• Piano Sonata No. 2 (1969)
• Piano Sonata No. 3 (1993)
• Cameos for solo piano (1969)
• Theatrepieces for clarinet, violin and piano (1987)
• Quartet for flute and strings (1995)
• Sonata for viola and piano (1995)
• Sonata for flute and piano (1997)
• Piano Sonata No. 3 (1997)
• Rhapsody for trombone and piano (2006)
• Manifesto for unaccompanied viola (2012)

Vocal music [ edit ]

Choral [ edit ]

• Permit Me Voyage (James Agee) (1976)
• Mass (1983)
• A Joyful Noise (1985) (The Bible)
• Three Mysteries (Walt Whitman, G. Meredith, P. Sidney) (1991)
• The Harvest Frost (Carl Sandburg) (1993)
• Bang the Drum Loudly (Thomas Pasatieri) (1994)
• Canticle of Praise (1995)
• Mornings Innocent (May Swenson, Bill Wright, Adrienne Rich) (1995)
• In the light of angels (2013) Children's chorus, solo soprano, mezzo, baroque orchestra

Voice and chamber ensemble [ edit ]

• Heloise And Abelard (Louis Phillips) (1973)
• Far From Love (Emily Dickinson) (1976)
• Canciones del barrio (Voice and string quartet, 1993)
• Letter to Warsaw (Pola Braun) (2003)

Voice and orchestra [ edit ]

• Rites Of Passage (Louis Phillips) (1974)
• Voice and chamber orchestra or string quartet
• Sieben Lehmannlieder (Lotte Lehmann) (1988)
• Alleluia (1991)

Voice and piano [ edit ]

• Day of Love (Kirstin van Cleave) (1983)
• Three Sonnets from the Portuguese (Elizabeth Barrett Browning) (1984)
• Sieben Lehmannlieder (Lotte Lehmann) (1988)
• Windsongs (1989)

• Three Poems of Theodore Ramsay

1. Love

2. Remembering

3. On Parting

• Vocalise
• Three California Songs (Robert H. Deutsch)

1. Brother

2. Song

3. The Middle-Aged Shepherd

• Windsong (Richard Nickson)

• Alleluia (1991)
• Three Poems of Oscar Wilde (1998)
• A Rustling of Angels (2003)
• Letter to Warsaw (Pola Braun) (2003)
• The Daughter of Capulet (monodrama) (2007)
• Lady Macbeth (monodrama) (2007)
• The Bride of the Moor (monodrama)
• Three Songs of Kirsten Van Cleave
• The Last Invocation (Walt Whitman)
• Orpheus (William Shakespeare)
• Dream Land (Christina Rossetti)
• Three Poems of James Agee
• Ophelia’s Lament (William Shakespeare)
• Vocal Modesty (Gerald Walker)
• Overweight, Overwrought Over You (Sheila Nadler)
• Divas of a Certain Age (Thomas Pasatieri)
• Bel Canto Songs (William Blake)
• Duets

References [ edit ]

• New York Times review by Steve Smith, The Hotel Casablanca (Dicapo Opera) (25 January 2010), accessed 19 February 2010
• Bakersfield.com review by Susan Scaffidi Opera 101 starts with sweet story about Pasatieri's children's opera The Goose Girl (27 January 2010), accessed 19 February 2010

External links [ edit ]

• Thomas Pasatieri's page at Theodore Presser Company