Douglas Cuomo
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Douglas J. Cuomo (born February 13, 1958) is an American composer of
contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...
and music for television.


Biography

Born in
Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
, raised in the
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
Bay Area and Amherst,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, Douglas J. Cuomo began playing the trumpet in grade school and switched to guitar at the age of 12. While still in high school he studied with jazz musicians
Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...
and
Archie Shepp Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz. Biography Early life Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...
at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...
. He began his professional musical career at the age of 18, touring the country with a Las Vegas show band. He alternated years of college with years on the road as a guitarist, studying jazz, world music and ethnomusicology at
Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...
in Connecticut. He completed his undergraduate studies at the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...
(Coral Gables) with a degree in jazz performance. Cuomo's first work to garner significant public notice was ''Atomic Opera'', which was performed at the Ohio Theatre in downtown
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. The New York Times wrote that Cuomo's "elegiac and eerie" score "blends electronically treated classical fragments and vintage kitsch, suggests the breaking down and reconstitution of matter into something ominous and uncontrollable." After Atomic Opera, he scored fifteen productions for the
Roundabout Theatre The Roundabout Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. History The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist, Michael Fried and Elizabeth Owen ...
, including ''The Women, Design For Living, Hamlet, The Visit'', and the
Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
-winning ''Anna Christie''. In television, Cuomo has scored over 120 episodes for '' Homicide: Life on the Street''. His credits include numerous series, movies, and documentaries for
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
,
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
,
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
and
VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...
, among others. He has also scored a number of independent films, including '' Revolution #9'', ''
Terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
'', and '' Crazy Love'', featuring pianist
Billy Childs William Edward Childs (born March 8, 1957) is an American composer, jazz pianist, arranger and conductor from Los Angeles, California, United States. Early life When he was 16, Childs attended the Community School of the Performing Arts sponsored ...
and trumpeter
Chris Botti Christopher Stephen Botti ( ; born October 12, 1962) is an American trumpeter and composer. In 2013, Botti won the Grammy Award in the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album, Best Pop Instrumental Album category, for the album Impressions ...
. Cuomo also composed the theme to ''
Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...
'' (HBO), praised by
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
magazine for its "unusual, edgy salsa flavor" and the saxophone quartet music that opens and closes ''
Now with Bill Moyers ''Now on PBS'', shown onscreen as ''NOW'', is a Public Broadcasting Service newsmagazine which aired between 2002 and 2010, focusing on social and political issues. History First airing in January 2002, and originally called ''Now with Bill Moye ...
'' (
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
). Cuomo's collaborators have included the string quartet
Ethel Ethel (also '' æthel'') is an Old English word meaning "noble", today often used as a feminine given name. Etymology and historic usage The word means ''æthel'' "noble". It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, ...
, the PRISM saxophone quartet, the vocal group
Anonymous 4 Anonymous 4 was an American female ''a cappella'' quartet, founded in 1986 and based in New York City. Their main performance genre was medieval music, although later they also premiered works by recent composers such as John Tavener and Steve R ...
, violinist
Mark Feldman Mark Feldman (born 1955 in Chicago) is an American jazz violinist. Biography Feldman worked in Chicago from 1973–1980, in Nashville, Tennessee from 1980–1986, in New York City and Western Europe from 1986. He has performed with John Zorn, ...
, trumpeters
Frank London Frank London (born 1958 in New York) is an American klezmer trumpeter who also plays jazz and world music. Early life London was born to a Reform Jewish family and grew up in Plainview, New York and Connecticut. He started playing the trumpet i ...
and Steven Bernstein, pianists Oscar Hernandez and Brian Mitchell, drummers Robby Ameen and
Roberto Juan Rodríguez Roberto Juan Rodríguez (Havana) is a Cuban-American jazz musician who is known for fusion of Latin music and Jewish Klezmer elements. Although not Jewish his father's Latin band regularly played at Jewish theatre, weddings and bar mitzvahs in Miam ...
, tabla player
Badal Roy Badal Roy (; born Amarendra Roy Chowdhury; 16 October 1939 – 18 January 2022) was an Indian tabla player, percussionist, and recording artist known for his work in jazz, world music, and experimental music. Biography Roy was born Amarendr ...
, guitarists Mark Stewart and Dave Fuzinski and many others. In 2008 Cuomo composed '' Arjuna’s Dilemma'', an 80-minute opera-oratorio incorporating an Indian vocalist, a classically trained tenor, a four-member female chorus, a tabla player, an improvising tenor saxophonist, and a ten-piece chamber ensemble. ''Arjuna’s Dilemma'' has been produced by the Music-Theatre Group, and was performed at BAM's Next Wave Festival. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' described ''Arjuna's Dilemma'' as "an opera with an appealing and unabashedly eclectic score." A recording of ''Arjuna’s Dilemma'', performed by artists including Indian singer Amit Chatterjee, members of Anonymous 4 and the
Philip Glass Ensemble The Philip Glass Ensemble is an American musical group founded by composer Philip Glass in 1968 to serve as a performance outlet for his experimental minimalist music. The ensemble continues to perform and record to this day, under the musical d ...
, tenor Tony Boutté, Badal Roy, Ethel, pianist
Kathleen Supové Kathleen Supové is an American pianist specializing in modern classical music. She has premiered the works of dozens of composers on her Exploding Piano series. Her recitals involve recitation, costume, theatrical elements such as lighting, and ...
, and bassist Robert Black of the
Bang on a Can All Stars The Bang on a Can All-Stars is an amplified ensemble that was formed in 1992 by parent organization Bang on a Can. Called "a flexible and expert sextet" by ''The New York Times'',
, was released on
Innova Recordings Innova Recordings is the independent record label of the non-profit American Composers Forum based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1982 to document the winners of the McKnight Fellowship offered by its parent organization, the Minne ...
. In addition to ''Arjuna’s Dilemma'', his concert works include a
Kyrie ', a transliteration of Greek , vocative case of ('' Kyrios''), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the ( ; ). In the Bible The prayer, , "Lord, have mercy" derives from a Biblical phrase. Greek , ...
for'' And on Earth, Peace'' (2007) commissioned by the vocal ensemble Chanticleer, premiered by the group at the
Temple of Dendur The Temple of Dendur (Dendoor in the 19th century) is a Roman Egyptian religious structure originally located in Tuzis (later Dendur), Nubia about south of modern Aswan. Around 23 BCE, Emperor Augustus commissioned the Egyptian temple, temple d ...
at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
, and recorded on
Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...
; and ''Fortune'' for The Young People's Chorus under the direction of Francisco Nunez. Cuomo composed ''Only Breath'' for cello and electronics, commissioned by
Maya Beiser Maya Beiser (born 31 December 1963) is an American musician, cellist, performing artist and Record producer, producer who lives in New York City. Beiser was raised on a kibbutz in Israel by her France, French mother and Argentina, Argentine father ...
for an evening-length program titled ''Provenance'', performed at the Arts & Ideas Festival, the
Ravinia Festival Ravinia Festival is a primarily outdoor music venue in Highland Park, Illinois. It hosts a series of outdoor concerts and performances every summer from June to September in a wide variety of musical genres from classical to pop. The first orche ...
, and
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...
. Other works include ''A Winter's Journey'', a setting of
Wilhelm Müller Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Müller (7 October 1794 – 30 September 1827) was a German lyric poet, best known as the author of ''Die schöne Müllerin'' (1821) and ''Winterreise'' (1823). These would later be the source of inspiration for two song cy ...
's text for Schubert's ''
Winterreise ''Winterreise'' (, ''Winter Journey'') is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert (Schubert Thematic Catalogue, D. 911, published as Opus number, Op. 89 in 1828), a setting of 24 Poetry, poems by German poet Wilhelm Müller. It is the ...
'' song cycle, scored for mezzo-soprano, trumpet, cello, and electronics. In 2010, his work, Black Diamond Express Train to Hell, a double concerto for sampler, cellist Maya Beiser, and orchestra premiered at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall with the American Composers Orchestra. In 2013, Cuomo's opera, ''
Doubt Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, and is certainty, uncertain about them. Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and wikt:disbelief, disbelief. It may i ...
'', based on the
John Patrick Shanley John Patrick Shanley (born October 13, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film ''Moonstruck''. His play, '' Doubt: A Parable'', won the 2005 Pulitzer Pri ...
play and movie, was premiered at Minnesota Opera. The libretto was written by Mr. Shanley and the cast included
Denyce Graves Denyce Graves (born March 7, 1964) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. Early life Graves was born on March 7, 1964, in Washington, D.C., to Charles Graves and Dorothy (Middleton) Graves-Kenner. She is the middle of three children and w ...
,
Christine Brewer Christine Brewer (born October 26), is an American soprano opera singer. Biography Brewer grew up in the Mississippi River town of Grand Tower, Illinois. She attended McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois and concentrated on music education. ...
, Matthew Worth, and Adriana Zabala. Associated Press called the opera "a success," citing the "gripping" theater experience and the "clearly talented" Cuomo's "ear for subtle dissonance" and "inventive orchestrations." The Pittsburgh Opera mounted the world premiere of his monodrama for tenor, ''Savage Winter'' (originally titled ''Ashes and Snow''), in 2018, with Eric Ferring as the protagonist and Jonathan Moore directing.


Awards

Cuomo has received fellowships and grants from the
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
,
Mabou Mines Mabou Mines is an experimental theatre company founded in 1970 and based in New York City. Founding and history Mabou Mines was founded by David Warrilow, Lee Breuer, Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and Philip Glass, at the house of Akalaiti ...
,
Meet the Composer New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media progr ...
, the
Blue Mountain Center Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The term ''blue'' generally de ...
, the
MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The program was founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDo ...
, and the Hermitage Artist Retreat, and has received three
BMI Film & TV Awards The BMI Film & TV Awards are accolades presented annually by Broadcast Music, Inc., honoring songwriters, composers, and music publishers in various genres. Based in the United States, the main pop music award was founded in 1952. The awards incl ...
. His theme for ''
Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...
'' was chosen by
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
as one of the top 50 television themes of all time. Douglas J. Cuomo's compositions are published by
Schott Music Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second-oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were foun ...
.


References


External links


Douglas J. Cuomo website with a full biography and career overview
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cuomo, Douglas J. 1958 births American contemporary classical composers American film score composers American male film score composers American male opera composers American male television composers American opera composers American television composers Classical musicians from Arizona Living people Musicians from Tucson, Arizona University of Miami Frost School of Music alumni Wesleyan University alumni