Stanley Silverman

Stanley Joel Silverman

Stanley Silverman at home
Born Stanley Silverman
(1938-07-05) July 5, 1938
New York City
Education Mills College (MA), Boston University (BMus), Columbia University, High School of Performing Arts
Occupation Composer, arranger, conductor, guitarist
Years active 1958–present
Spouse(s) Mary Delson (1966-1975), Martha Caplin (1980-1995)
Children Ben Silverman, Rena Silverman
Parent(s) Meyer Silverman, Eva Silverman (nee) Kass
Website stanleysilverman.com

Stanley Silverman (born July 5, 1938 in New York City) is an award-winning American composer, arranger, conductor and guitarist.[1][2]

Silverman's diverse career covers music theatre, film, television, classical and pop music. His work has featured on stages across the world including on and off-Broadway and his collaborators include Richard Foreman, Anthony Burgess[3] and Arthur Miller.[4][5] He has also worked with renowned directors Mike Nichols[6] and Arthur Penn.[7] Silverman worked with Paul Simon on his musical The Capeman in 1998 for which his orchestrations were nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards.[8] His music has been performed by Pierre Boulez,[9] Michael Tilson Thomas,[10] Tashi,[11] the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and pop icons James Taylor and Sting.[12]

Across a successful career as a conductor, Silverman worked on the Tony, Drama Desk and Grammy Award nominated 1976 Joseph Papp production of The Threepenny Opera which starred in the lead role Raul Julia.[13][14]

Early life

Stanley Silverman composing at home in New York

Stanley Silverman was born in New York City and is the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. Silverman grew up in the Bronx attending public school followed by the High School of Performing Arts before completing his BMus at Boston University and his MA in Music Composition at Mills College.[15]

At Tanglewood Silverman studied with Leon Kirchner and at Mills College with Kirchner and Darius Milhaud. Silverman's Tenso: Afternoon Music For Orchestra, composed for a White House concert premiered in 1962 for President John F. Kennedy.[16]

As a young man Silverman played guitar in a western swing band and developed an interest in jazz music which took him to the Brussels World Fair playing with his college jazz quintet.[15]

Upon graduating Silverman became a regular concert guitarist and worked with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Silverman also played guitar at the Malboro Festival, the Ojai Festival and during this period worked with Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Lukas Foss and Gunther Schuller. As a young guitarist Silverman specialized in new music performing and recording many premieres.[17]

Following work as guitarist, Silverman concentrated on his career as a composer and was part of Charles Wuorinen's New York composer-performer group, The Group for Contemporary Music.[15][18]

Career

Silverman taught at Tanglewood during the 1960s and in 1965 was appointed music director of The Lincoln Center Repertory Theater before joining Canada's Stratford Festival at the invitation of Glenn Gould.[19][20] He worked at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival extensively from 1967 when he composed music for John Hirsch's production of Richard III until 1994.[21] His career at the Festival was celebrated in a one off concert in 2013 called Celebrating Stanley which covered the diverse range of material he had composed over almost three decades for the Festival.[22] In 1971 Silverman, along with Lyn Austin and Oliver Smith, was a founding member of the Lenox Arts Center, later the Music Theatre Group.[23]

Amongst a range of noteworthy collaborations, Silverman composed the incidental music for Arthur Miller's 1972 Broadway production of The Creation of the World and Other Business and worked with the playwright again on his only musical Up from Paradise which premiered at Miller's alma mater, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1973.[24] A recent production took place under the direction of Patrick Kennedy at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London in 2014.[25]

In 1976, Silverman joined Joseph Papp's production of The Threepenny Opera as Musical Director. The show premiered at the Vivian Beaumont Theater under the direction of Richard Foreman. Of Silverman's musical direction, Alan Rich of New York Magazine said, "This is strong, intelligent music-making, and it clarifies, more than any version I have heard live or on records, the stature of this dazzling score."[26] The production received critical acclaim and went on to earn Tony, Drama Desk and Grammy Award nominations.[13][14]

During the 1980s Silverman enjoyed a brief and successful directing career including an Obie award winning production of the Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein opera, The Mother of Us All in 1983.[27][28] He also conceived and directed the 1986 music-theater piece Black Sea Follies at Playwrights Horizons[29][30]

Aside from his involvement with theatre, Silverman has worked with several musicians as an arranger including a Grammy award winning collaboration with James Taylor on Hourglass.

Stanley Silverman with James Taylor

In recent years, Silverman has been a specialist consultant for Reveille TV, Electus Studios and NBC music Specials.[15][31]

Silverman was honored by the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education in 2004 having served for over thirty years as one of its founding board members.

Recent activity

Hotel For Criminals by Richard Foreman and Stanley Silverman had its UK premiere in October 2016 at the New Wimbledon Studio directed by Patrick Kennedy. The show garnered positive reviews from critics in particular for Silverman's score:

"The music is immensely more tuneful and memorable than the great majority of scores currently to be heard in the commercial scene."[32]

"The score is filled with rich vocal harmonies and elegant melodies dappled amongst chromatic recitative and horror film discordance."[33]

"Silverman’s score is a rich combination of haunting, discordant phrases and sumptuous melodies that reflect the other-worldliness of the narrative."[34]

"Stanley Silverman’s score is beautiful, enigmatic and embraces the show’s disjointed narrative with its smooth and impressive melodies."[35]

In February 2017 BBC Radio 3 will broadcast Anthony Burgess's Oedipus the King with Silverman's score.

Collaborations with Richard Foreman

In 1968 Silverman began collaborating with playwright/director Richard Foreman resulting in several works of music-theatre. Their first collaboration was Elephant Steps which premiered at Tanglewood in 1968[36] with the New York Magazine calling it "The best piece of new music I've heard in concert all year."[37]

Other collaborations include Dream Tantras For Western Massachusetts, Hotel For Criminals, Madame Adare, The American Imagination, Africanus Instructus, Love & Science and Dr Selavy's Magic Theatre[38] which led to the New York Times describing Silverman as "the brightest talent in this medium to come along since Leonard Bernstein... he could turn out to be the later day Cole Porter."[39][40]

Influences

Silverman has been influenced by the works of Baroque composers Handel, Henry Purcell, Austrian expressionist Arnold Schoenberg, French guitarist Django Reinhardt, songwriters Rodgers and Hart, and Cuban charanga.[41][42]

Personal life

In 1966, Silverman married former VP of BBC America and theatre and television producer and executive Mary Silverman (née Delson); the couple had one child, Ben, chairman and co-CEO of Propagate and former NBC co-chairman.[43] With Mary, Silverman also raised artist and illustrator Sarah Delson.[44] In 1980 Silverman married Martha Caplin,[6] a founding member and 1st Violin, Primavera Quartet and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.[45] The couple has one child, Rena, a journalist and photography writer.

Theatre

Music Theatre

Elephant Steps

The Satyricon

Dream Tantras for Western Massachusetts

Dr. Selavy's Magic Theatre

Hotel for Criminals

The American Imagination

Madame Adare

The Columbine String Quartet Tonight

Up from Paradise

Africanus Instructus

A Good Life

Paradise for the Worried

Love and Science

Celebrating Stanley (Revue)

Celebrating Silverman (Revue)

Incidental Music

Broadway

Off-Broadway

Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center

Stratford Festival, Canada

Guthrie Theatre. Minneapolis

New York Shakespeare Festival

Mark Taper Forum. Los Angeles

Long Wharf Theatre. New Haven

Royal Exchange Theatre. Manchester U.K.

Seattle Repertory Theatre

Hartford Stage Company

Lincoln Center Theatre. New York

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Berkshire Theatre Festival

Classical Compositions

Principal Performances

Tenso

Canso

Planh

Crepuscule

The Charleston Concerto

New York Shakespeare Festival Fanfare

Birthday Variations for Avery Fisher

Trio No. 1 In Celebration

Psalm 100

Khlestakov's Lullaby

Eridos

Shakespeare and Our Planet

Trio No.2 Reveille

Principal Performances as Guitarist

Filmography

Composer

Consultant

Discography

Composer

Guitarist

Selected credits include:

Arranger

Major arranger credits include:

Conductor

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Stanley Silverman - Subito Music Corporation". www.subitomusic.com. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  2. ↑ Packer, Renee Levine (2010-07-23). This Life of Sounds: Evenings for New Music in Buffalo. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199781539.
  3. ↑ Foley, Helene P. (2012-10-01). Reimagining Greek Tragedy on the American Stage. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520953659.
  4. ↑ Holland, Bernard (1981-10-02). "ARTHUR MILLER PLAY SET TO STANLEY SILVERMAN MUSIC RESURFACES". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  5. ↑ "(L-R) Playwright Arthur Miller and composer Stanley Silverman in a rehearsal shot from the Off-Broadway musical "Up From Paradise." (New York)". NYPL Digital Collections. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  6. 1 2 "The Music Man About Town". Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  7. ↑ www.t75.org. "IndieLondon: Celebrating Silverman - London Hippodrome - Your London Reviews". www.indielondon.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 12, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Stanley Silverman | Guggenheim Fellowships". ZoomInfo.com. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  10. ↑ Kozinn, Allan. "At Tanglewood: Michael Tilson Thomas's Life in Pictures". ArtsBeat. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  11. ↑ "Rendezvous with Tashi (Musical CD, 1989)". [WorldCat.org]. 2015-03-10. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  12. ↑ Woolfe, Zachary (2011-09-15). "Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio With Sting - Review". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  13. 1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Grammy Award Nominees 1978 - Grammy Award Winners 1978". www.awardsandshows.com. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Stanley Silverman". Stanley Silverman. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  16. ↑ "Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra 1962 (Musical LP, 1962)". [WorldCat.org]. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  17. ↑ "Stanley Silverman - Short Biography - Music Sales Classical". www.musicsalesclassical.com. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  18. ↑ "DRAM: Stanley Silverman". www.dramonline.org. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  19. ↑ "From the stages of Stratford, a father and son find the American Dream". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  20. ↑ "Stanley Silverman". Stanley Silverman. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  21. ↑
  22. ↑ "Flashback Friday: Celebrating Stanley Silverman". Facebook. 2013-06-21. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  23. ↑ Feingold, Michael (2000-11-07). "Lyn Austin (1922–2000)". Village Voice. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  24. ↑ "Arthur Miller Returns to Genesis for First Musical". partners.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  25. ↑ "Up From Paradise - New Wimbledon Studio Theatre - ATG Tickets". www.atgtickets.com. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  26. ↑ Rich, Alan "Theater review: Threepenny Opera", New York Magazine, New York, 17 May 1976.
  27. ↑ "New York News, Food, Culture and Events". Village Voice. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  28. ↑ Henahan, Donal (1983-03-24). "OPERA: VIRGIL THOMPSON 'THE MOTHER OF US ALL'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  29. ↑ Gussow, Mel (1986-12-17). "STAGE: 'BLACK SEA FOLLIES,' A MUSIC-THEATER PIECE". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  30. ↑ LLC, New York Media (1987-01-12). New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC.
  31. ↑ "Stanley Silverman, Consultant". ProductionBeast. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  32. ↑ http://britishtheatre.com/review-hotel-for-criminals-new-wimbledon-studio/
  33. ↑ http://www.thegizzlereview.com/
  34. ↑ https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2016/hotel-for-criminals-review-at-new-wimbeldon-theatre/
  35. ↑ http://everything-theatre.co.uk/2016/10/hotel-for-criminals-new-wimbledon-studio-review.html
  36. ↑ "Scene from Stanley Silverman's opera Elephant Steps performed by TMC students in the Theatre Concert Hall at Tanglewood, ca. 1968. :: Images". Cdm15982.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  37. ↑ "Elephant Steps - A Fearful Radio Show". Masterworks Broadway North America Store (in Spanish). Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  38. ↑ "Ontological-Hysteric Theater". www.ontological.com. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  39. ↑ LLC, New York Media (1974-04-22). New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC.
  40. ↑ Salzman, Eric; Desi, Thomas (2008-11-06). The New Music Theater: Seeing the Voice, Hearing the Body. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199723218.
  41. ↑ ATGTickets (2014-08-05), 5 Questions For... Stanley Silverman 2014 - ATG Tickets, retrieved 2016-05-14
  42. ↑ "Stanley Silverman". stanleysilverman. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  43. ↑ TV.com. "Ben Silverman". TV.com. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  44. ↑ Louie, Elaine (2000-09-07). "CURRENTS: STATIONERY; Have Your Mommy Call My Mommy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  45. ↑ "Martha Caplin – Orpheus Chamber Orchestra". orpheusnyc.org. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  46. ↑
  47. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 8, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
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