Dickman, Stephen

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Dickman, Stephen

Dickman, Stephen, American composer and librettist; b. Chicago, March 2, 1943. He studied at Bard Coll. (B.A., 1965) and Brandeis Univ. (M.A., 1968), and also attended courses at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood (summer 1968) and on a Fulbright fellowship at the Academia di Santa Cecilia in Rome (1971–72). His mentors have included Petrassi, Krenek, Shapero, Berger, and Druckman. He also studied cello (1964–72) with Louis Garcia-Renard, Peter Rosenfeld, and Giuseppe Selmi, and sarangi with Pandit Ram Narayan in London and Bombay (1972–74) and in San Francisco (1978). Among his numerous awards are BMI Student Composer’s Awards (1968, 1969), grants from Meet the Composer (1990,1995,1996), a grant from the NEA (1995), and a commission from the American Composers Forum for a work to celebrate the 350th anniversary of East Hampton, N.Y. (1998). Dickman’s music has been critically lauded as lovely, rich, haunting, and strikingly original, garnering his greatest success in his works involving voice. He currently is working on a musical, The Violin Maker, to his own story and libretto, as well as a setting of The Epic of Gilgamesh for Baritone, Mezzo-soprano, Violin, Cello, Flute, and Percussion, on a commission from N.Y/s Mutable Music and scheduled for a 2002 premiere.

Works

DRAMATIC opéra : Real Magic in New York, a cappella opéra, to a libretto by Richard Foreman (1971); Tibetan Dreams (1987–90). ORCH.: The Wheels of Ezekiel for Chamber Orch. (1985). CHAMBER : 2 string quartets (1967, 1978); Damsel for 16 Instruments and 2 Conductors (1968); String Trio (1970–71). Piano : Trees and Other Inclinations (1983). VOCAL: Song Cycle 3 Sopranos and 3 Violins (1975–77); Orchestra by the Sea for 4 Sopranos and Orch. (1983); Maximus Song Cycle, 5 pieces for Soprano and Ensemble, after Charles Olson (1987); Duets for 2 a cappella Singers, after Jelaluddin Rumi (1992–98); Rabbi Nathan’s Prayer for Soprano and Violin, after Rabbi Nathan of Bratslav (1995); Four for Tom [Buckner] for Baritone and Piano, after Jelaluddin Rumi and Milarepa (1997); The Music of Eric Zann for Baritone Solo, afterH.R Lovecraft (1998). OTHER: Musical Journeys for Unspecified Instruments (1972–76).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire