(b New York, 16 Feb 1938). American composer. He studied at Columbia and with Giannini and Creston, then worked in radio and television. His works, in an accessible romantic style, with tonal harmony and brilliant orchestration, include The Naked Carmen (1970), an ‘electric rock opera’ after Bizet, orchestral music (notably a Clarinet Concerto, 1977), vocal music and film scores. In his most ambitious project to date, The Ghost of Versailles (1991), an opera commissioned by the Met, the music parodies classical composers as well as using 12-note techniques and quarter-tone dissonances. His father John (1901-75) was a violinist, mostly in New York.
Corigliano, John Paul (kôr'ĭlyän'ō, kərĭg'lē-än'ō), 1938-, American composer, b. New York City. The son of New York Philharmonic first violinist and concertmaster John Corigliano, he attended Columbia Univ. (B.A., 1959) and the Manhattan School of Music and studied with Paul Creston. While Corigliano's compositions are far from simple, they are intentionally accessible. Generally lyrical, richly rhythmic, and sometimes dissonant, his works include pieces written for the theater, film, chamber groups, and orchestra; three of his best-known compositions are concerti-for oboe (1975), clarinet (1977), and flute (Pied Piper Fantasy, 1981). He was composer-in-residence at the Chicago Symphony (1987-90) when he wrote his Symphony No. 1 (1989). Corigliano was particularly acclaimed for his opera The Ghosts of Versailles (1991), commissioned by New York's Metropolitan Opera. His other music for voice includes Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (2000). Since 1991, Corigliano has taught composition at the Juilliard School of Music; during this period he wrote his Symphony No. 2 (2000), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. He also won an Academy Award for his score for the film The Red Violin (1999).
Genres: Chamber Music, Concerto, Film Music, Keyboard Music, Miscellaneous Music, Opera, Orchestral Music, Symphony, Vocal Music
Biography
American composer John Corigliano (b. 1938) has summed up his artistic aims thus: "It has been fashionable of late for the artist to be misunderstood. I think it is the job of the composer to reach out to his audience with every means at his disposal.... Communication of his most important ideas should be the primary goal." Throughout the development of his career, Corigliano's "primary goal" of communication with the audience has remained ever in his sight. In an atmosphere in which audience responses to new music so often range from indifferent to adversarial, Corigliano takes a place among the few "serious" contemporary composers whose appeal has ranged beyond the new-music crowd to reach listeners steeped in more traditional, time-tested fare.
The son of longtime New York Philharmonic concertmaster John Corigliano, Sr., Corigliano received his formal training at Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music; his teachers included Otto Luening, Vittorio Giannini, and Paul Creston. Corigliano's father, with his from-the-trenches perspective on the world of classical music, at first discouraged John Jr. from pursuing a career in composition, all too aware of the difficulties that faced contemporary composers. However, after a stint as a music programmer for radio, Corigliano attracted international attention for his Sonata for Violin and Piano (1963), awarded the top prize at the 1964 Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.
From that point, he continued to evolve a musical language in which architecture, color, and overt drama are paramount. While his works are steeped in a Romantic aesthetic that makes liberal, unembarrassed use of tonality, Corigliano's inclusive sensibility has led him to also employ extended instrumental techniques, microtones, and elements of minimalism and serialism (sometimes in a parodistic context); more recently he has incorporated live electronics into his music. The orchestra is clearly Corigliano's native medium and the ensemble for which he has written his most compelling works. He has demonstrated an especial interest in the concerto; in his concerti for piano (1968), oboe (1975), clarinet (1977), flute (1981), and guitar (1993), Corigliano both approaches the relationship between soloist and orchestra from a fresh perspective and makes notably creative use of the instrumental resources at hand. The Symphony No. 1 (1990), written in response to the AIDS crisis, is remarkable for its effective alchemy of intensely personal associations and musical potency; in 1991, it was awarded the Grawemeyer Award, the most lucrative prize in the world of contemporary classical music.
On an occasional basis since the 1980s, Corigliano has lent his abilities to producing film music of exceptional interest. His score for Ken Russell's Altered States (1980) was nominated for an Academy Award; nearly two decades later, he took home the Oscar for his score to François Girard's The Red Violin (1998). Though Corigliano's catalogue of chamber music remains relatively slender, works such as the Grammy-winning String Quartet (1995) and Chiaroscuro (1997) for two pianos suggest an increasing interest in writing for smaller forces.
The composer's affinity for the voice is at once evident in numerous vocal and choral works like the "memory play in the form of an oratorio" Dylan Thomas Trilogy (1999) and the song cycle Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (2000). His most ambitious work to date, the opera The Ghosts of Versailles (1991), has earned worldwide plaudits and, in a rare instance among contemporary operas, has enjoyed repeated productions since its premiere. ~ Michael Rodman, All Music Guide
Most of Corigliano's work has been for symphony orchestra. He employs a wide variety of styles, sometimes even within the same work, but aims to make his work accessible to a relatively large audience. He has written symphonies, as well as works for string orchestra, and wind band. Additionally, Corigliano has written concerti for clarinet, flute, violin, oboe, and piano; film scores; various chamber and solo instrument works, and the opera, The Ghosts of Versailles.
The younger Corigliano first came to prominence in 1964 when, at the age of 26, his Sonata for Violin and Piano (1963) was the only winner of the chamber-music competition of the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy. Support from Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation followed, as did important commissions. For the New York Philharmonic he composed his Vocalise (1999), Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (1977) and Fantasia on an Ostinato (1986); for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he wrote Poem in October (1970); for the New York State Council on the Arts he composed the Oboe Concerto (1975); for flutist James Galway he composed his Promenade Overture (1981), as well as the Symphony No. 2 (2001); the National Symphony Orchestra commissioned the evening-length A Dylan Thomas Trilogy (1960, rev. 1999). He also composed Chiaroscuro -listen here- [1], for two pianos tuned a quarter tone apart for The Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation.
In 1991 he was awarded the Grawemeyer Award for his Symphony No. 1 (1991) which was inspired by the AIDS crisis. In 2001 he received the Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 2 (2001). Corigliano composed dramatic scores for the 1980 filmAltered States, the 1985 filmRevolution and Francois Girard's 1997 film, The Red Violin. The award winning score for Revolution is one of Corigliano's most impressive creations although it is less known, as it was never released in any recorded format.[1] Corigliano did, however, export portions of the score for use in his first symphony. Portions of the score to The Red Violin were also used in his Violin Concerto (2003). In 1970 Corigliano teamed up with David Hess to create The Naked Carmen. In a recent communication with David Hess, Hess acknowledged that The Naked Carmen was originally conceived by Corigliano and himself as a way to update the most popular opera of our time referring to Bizet's Carmen. Mercury Records wanted the classical and popular divisions to work together and after a meeting with Joe Bott, Scott Mampe and Bob Reno it was decided to proceed with the project. In Hess's own words, the project was "a collective decision."
