Gil Rose is the founder and conductor of the
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is a professional orchestra founded in 1996 by artistic director Gil Rose in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
In its first twelve seasons, the BMOP was able to perform over 80 concerts of conte ...
(BMOP),
founder and General-Artistic Director of
Odyssey Opera, Artistic Director of Monadnock Music Festival, Professor of Practice at
Northeastern University
Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...
, and Executive Producer of the record label "BMOP/sound."
Early life and education
Rose was born in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
, Pennsylvania, and received his Bachelor of Music from the University of Cincinnati – College Conservatory of Music. He later studied at Carnegie Mellon University, where he received his Master of Fine Arts degree and Artist Diploma.
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Rose founded the
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is a professional orchestra founded in 1996 by artistic director Gil Rose in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
In its first twelve seasons, the BMOP was able to perform over 80 concerts of conte ...
(BMOP) in 1996 and has since then served as the artistic director of a group lauded as "one of the country's leading contemporary music ensembles." Under Rose's leadership, BMOP has received two John S. Edwards Awards for Strongest Commitment to New American Music and has won eleven
ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...
awards for adventurous orchestral programming. In 2015 it was named Musical America's 2016 Ensemble of the Year.
Composer
John Harbison
John Harris Harbison (born December 20, 1938) is an American composer and academic.
Life
John Harris Harbison was born on December 20, 1938, in Orange, New Jersey, to the historian Elmore Harris Harbison and Janet German Harbison. The Harbisons ...
has said that "No other city has anything resembling BMOP — with that level of activity, with that sustained productivity ... There's really been no new-music organization with a wider range of inclusion."
Paul Griffiths has also praised the ensemble, writing in
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 ...
in 2000 that "Mr. Rose and his team filled the music with rich, decisive ensemble colors and magnificent solos ... These musicians were rapturous ... superb instrumentalists at work and play."
Odyssey Opera
Rose founded
Odyssey Opera in 2013 in order to bring audiences "on a journey, maybe to ports of call they haven't been to before"; the company has gained an "enthusiastic following"
for its productions of rarely performed works under his artistic and musical direction – from large, grand concert operas to fully staged contemporary chamber operas. The inaugural season began with a performance of Wagner's ''Rienzi'', while 2014 saw a "triumphal" concert performance (and Boston premiere) of
Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (; May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian composer and conductor, who fled Europe in the mid-1930s and later adopted US nationality. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential compo ...
's ''
Die tote Stadt
(German for ''The Dead City''), Opus number, Op. 12, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957) set to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold. It premiered in ...
''. In 2015 the group performed the "enthusiastically cheered" Boston premiere of
Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...
's
"Le Cid" under Rose's
baton
Baton may refer to:
Stick-like objects
*Baton, a type of club
*Baton (law enforcement)
*Baston (weapon), a type of baton used in Arnis and Filipino Martial Arts
*Baton charge, a coordinated tactic for dispersing crowds of people
*Baton (conducti ...
at the
New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...
's Jordan Hall.
Opera Boston
From 2003 to its closure in 2012, Rose served as the artistic director of
Opera Boston
Opera Boston was an opera company in Boston, Massachusetts. It specialized in less-frequently heard repertoire as well as modern works or opera premieres, along with opera education and outreach programs designed to bring opera education to childre ...
. His performances with the ensemble included Verdi's ''
Luisa Miller
''Luisa Miller'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play '' Kabale und Liebe'' (''Intrigue and Love'') by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller.
Verdi's initial idea f ...
'', Beethoven's ''
Fidelio
''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Opus number, Op. 72, is the sole opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of ...
'', John Adams's ''Nixon in China'', Gluck's ''Alceste'' (featuring
Dawn Upshaw
Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contempo ...
), Shostakovich's ''The Nose'', Weber's ''
Der Freischütz
' (Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns, J. 277, Opus number, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Johann Fried ...
'', Smetana's ''
The Bartered Bride
''The Bartered Bride'' (, ''The Sold Bride'') is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The work is generally regarded as a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It ...
'', Rossini's ''
Tancredi
''Tancredi'' is a ''melodramma eroico'' (''opera seria'' or heroic opera) in two acts by composer Gioachino Rossini and librettist Gaetano Rossi (who was also to write ''Semiramide'' ten years later), based on Voltaire's play ''Tancrède (traged ...
'' (featuring
Ewa Podleś
Ewa Maria Podleś (; 26 April 1952 – 19 January 2024) was a Polish coloratura contralto singer who had an active international career both on the opera stage and in recital. She was known for the agility of her voice and a vocal range which s ...
), and the world premiere of ''
Madame White Snake'' (with music by
Zhou Long
Zhou Long (; born July 8, 1953) is a Chinese American composer. He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Biography
Zhou Long was born in Beijing, China. Born into an artistic family, he began studying piano from an early age. Due to the artist ...
).
Other performances
Rose has curated the Fromm Concert Series at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and served as the Artistic Director of the 2008 Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music at the
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple name chang ...
. He also directed the Voice of America Festival, a six-concert, three-day event, featuring BMOP in partnership with the Florestan Recital Project and the
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...
Department of Music.
Rose has also made numerous appearances as a guest conductor, including with the
American Composers Orchestra
The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is an American orchestra administratively based in New York City, specialising in contemporary American music. The ACO gives concerts at various concert venues in New York City, including:
* Zankel Hall at ...
, the
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
The Warsaw Philharmonic (full Polish name: ''Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie'', "National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw"), as it is legally set up, is a Polish orchestra based in Warsaw. Founded in 1901, its home is the Warsaw ...
, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the
Cleveland Chamber Symphony
The Cleveland Chamber Symphony (CCS) is an American chamber orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio, with a focus on performing contemporary classical music. Since its inception, the CCS has premiered over 200 works. The ensemble is affiliated wit ...
, the
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
The Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (OSI; literal translation, Orchestra of Italian Switzerland) is a Swiss orchestra based in Lugano. The orchestra's primary concert venue is the ''Auditorio RSI''. The OSI also gives a concert series at the Sa ...
and the National Orchestra of Porto, as well as several appearances with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. He made his
Tanglewood Music Festival
The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts.
The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, c ...
debut in 2002 and in 2003 he debuted with the
Netherlands Radio Symphony
The Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra (NRSO) was a Dutch radio orchestra. It was founded in 1985 after a merger of the Promenade Orchestra and the Radio Chamber Orchestra (Omroep Orkest). In 2005, the NRSO was disbanded, and its functions were ...
as part of the Holland Festival.
From 2003 to 2006, he was the artistic director of the Opera Unlimited Festival, a collaboration between BMOP and Opera Boston resulting in staged contemporary chamber operas. He led world premieres of
Elena Ruehr
Elena Ruehr (born 1963) is an American musician, music educator and composer.
Life and career
Elena Ruehr was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan as the daughter of a mathematician and an English professor. She grew up in Houghton, Michigan and began pian ...
's ''Toussaint Before the Spirits'', the New England premiere of
Thomas Adès
Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: ''The Tempest (opera), The T ...
's ''
Powder Her Face
''Powder Her Face'', Op. 14 (1995), is a chamber opera in two acts by the British composer Thomas Adès, with an English libretto by Philip Hensher. The opera is 100 minutes long. It was commissioned by the Almeida Opera, a part of London's ...
'', and
John Harbison
John Harris Harbison (born December 20, 1938) is an American composer and academic.
Life
John Harris Harbison was born on December 20, 1938, in Orange, New Jersey, to the historian Elmore Harris Harbison and Janet German Harbison. The Harbisons ...
's ''Full Moon in March''. In 2006 he conducted an acclaimed North American premiere of
Peter Eötvös
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
's ''
Angels in America
''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'' is a 1991 American two-part Play (theatre), play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The two parts of the play, ''Millennium Approaches'' and ''Perestroika'', may be presented separate ...
'' with Opera Unlimited.
As an educator, Rose was the director of Orchestral Activities at Tufts University for five years. In 2013, he joined the faculty of Northeastern University as a Professor of Practice of Music.
Rose conducted performances of ''Death and the Powers'', an opera by
Tod Machover
Tod Machover (born November 24, 1953, in Mount Vernon, New York), is a composer and an innovator in the application of technology in music. He is the son of Wilma Machover, a piano, pianist and Carl Machover, a computer scientist.
He was named ...
featuring new performance technologies developed by the
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fi ...
, in collaboration with the
American Repertory Theater
The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to ne ...
. The world premiere took place at the
Grimaldi Forum Monaco in Monte Carlo,
Monaco
Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
in September 2010. The North American premiere took place in Boston with the
American Repertory Theater
The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to ne ...
in 2011, followed by a performance at the Chicago Opera Theater later that year.
Rose serves as executive producer of BMOP/sound, a recipient of 2009, 2010, and 2011 Grammy Award nomations. He is also a recipient of an ASCAP Concert Music award and in 2007, received
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
's
Ditson Conductor's Award
The Ditson Conductor's Award, established in 1945, is the oldest award honoring conductors for their commitment to the performance of American music. The US$5,000 purse is endowed by the Alice M. Ditson Fund at Columbia University, increased in ...
for his commitment to the performance of American music.
His recordings have appeared on the year-end "Best of" lists of ''
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 ...
'', ''
Time Out New York
''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 333 cities in 59 countries worldwide.
In 2012, the London edition became ...
'', ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'', ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'', ''
American Record Guide
The ''American Record Guide'' (''ARG'') is a classical music magazine. It has reviewed classical music recordings since 1935.
History and profile
The magazine was founded by Peter Hugh Reed in May 1935 as the ''American Music Lover''. It chan ...
'',
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
, and ''Downbeat Magazine''.
See also
*
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) is a professional orchestra founded in 1996 by artistic director Gil Rose in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
In its first twelve seasons, the BMOP was able to perform over 80 concerts of conte ...
*
Odyssey Opera
*
Opera Boston
Opera Boston was an opera company in Boston, Massachusetts. It specialized in less-frequently heard repertoire as well as modern works or opera premieres, along with opera education and outreach programs designed to bring opera education to childre ...
References
External links
Gil Rose: Official WebsiteBoston Modern Orchestra ProjectOdyssey Opera
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Gil
Living people
Musicians from Pittsburgh
University of Cincinnati alumni
Northeastern University faculty
American male conductors (music)
American opera directors
Grammy Award winners
Music directors (opera)
Classical musicians from Pennsylvania
21st-century American conductors (music)
21st-century American male musicians
Year of birth missing (living people)