Future Home
 |
P.D.Q. Bach and
Peter Schickele
The Jekyll and Hyde Tour
Tuesday - January 30, 2007 - 8 p.m.
•The sights and sounds of Peter Schickele. Listen at your own risk. |
Composer, musician, author, satirist—Peter Schickele is internationally recognized as
one of the most versatile artists in the field of music. His works, now well in excess of 100 for symphony
orchestras, choral groups, chamber ensembles, voice, movies and television, have given him "a leading role
in the ever-more-prominent school of American composers who unselfconsciously blend all levels of American
music." (John Rockwell, New York Times)
In his well-known other role as perpetrator of the oeuvre of the now classic P.D.Q. Bach, Peter Schickele
is acknowledged as one of the great satirists of the 20th century. In testimony, Vanguard has released 11
albums of the fabled genius's works; Random House has published 11 editions of "The Definitive Biography
of P.D.Q. Bach" (which has also been translated into German, and is available as an audio book from the
HighBridge Company); Theodore Presser has printed numerous scores; and VideoArts International has produced
a cassette of P.D.Q. Bach's only full-length opera, "The Abduction of Figaro," which was premiered by the
Minnesota Opera (in the 1989 summer season it was given 28 successive sold-out performances in Sweden by
the Dramatiske Ensemblen).
That all of this adds up to "the greatest comedy-in-music act before the public
today" (Robert Marsh, Chicago Sun Times) is italicized by the four consecutive Grammy Awards earned by his
Telarc discs: "P.D.Q. Bach: 1712 Overture and Other Musical Assaults," "Oedipus Tex and Other Choral
Calamities," "WTWP—Classical Talkity-Talk Radio," and "Music for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion,"
winners in the Best Comedy Album category each year from 1990 through 1993, respectively. In addition
to his aforementioned touring, he continues to present both old and new discoveries of his music in
New York City each December. In 1998 Telarc released a new recording of P.D.Q. Bach's music called
"The Ill-Conceived P.D.Q. Bach Anthology." Vanguard has issued its own recent compilation on CD,
"The Dreaded P.D.Q. Bach Collection."
Mr. Schickele and his wife, the poet Susan Sindall, reside in New York City and at an upstate hideaway
where he concentrates on composing. His son and daughter are involved in various alternative rock groups,
both as composers and performers. |
 |
|
