Music of John Musto 02.09.12

Part of: American Art Song Series in collaboration with Joy in Singing Music curator and host Paul Sperry Known as a busy opera composer, John Musto’s reputation as a master of the concert song has long been secure, both as composer and as a performer at the piano. His highly refined playing is featured in song recitals, chamber music, concertos, and solo works. Since 2004, Mr. Musto has seen the production of three new operas, and a fourth, The Inspector, premiered at the Wolf Trap Opera company in 2011, and will be performed at Boston Lyric Opera in 2012. Wolf Trap’s recording of his first opera, Volpone, was nominated for a 2010 Grammy. Volpone was quickly followed by the premiere in November 2007 of the genial drama Later the Same Evening at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the University of Maryland Opera Theater, the co-commissioners of the work. It had its New York premiere in 2008 at the Manhattan School of Music and its third production at Glimmerglass opera in 2011. In 2008, New York and Caramoor audiences saw the lively new one-act comedy, Bastianello, (paired with William Bolcom’s Lucrezia) commissioned to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), presented in three New York performances and in a second production in the summer of 2008 at the Moab Music Festival in Utah. Bastianello/Lucrezia has just been released by Bridge records. All these operas involve collaboration with the librettist Mark Campbell. A master both of light verse and affecting prose, Campbell is a creator who understands the forms that give composers the best opportunities for effective stage works. Mr. Musto earned degrees in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music under Seymour Lipkin. He also pursued studies with pianists Michael Rogers and Paul Jacobs. He has been a visiting professor at Brooklyn College and is a frequent guest lecturer at the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music. PROGRAM All sets to be announced during performances.

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