Gregory Mertl
Encyclopedia
Gregory Mertl is an American-born music composer. He has garnered commissions from the Tanglewood Music Center
(1999), the Rhode Island Philharmonic (2000), the Tarab Cello Ensemble (2001), the Phoenix Symphony
(2001), the Wind Ensembles of the Big Ten Universities (2002), the Ostrava Oboe Festival, Czech Republic (2005, 2009) and Kenneth Meyer and the Hanson Institute (2006). His latest work, a piano concerto commissioned by the Barlow Endowment
for Solungga Liu and the University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble receives its premiere in fall 2011 and will subsequently be recorded on Innova Records
.
In 2010 he presented work on a concert/lecture tour in Romania and Hungary and as a guest composer at KOFOMI (Komponistenforum Mittersill, Austria) where he had performances by the Austrian contemporary music ensemble "Die Reihe". Previously his music has reached audiences in France, at the Festival du Moulin d’Andé and the France Musique radio station, Belgium, where he placed third at the Harelbeke International Wind Ensemble Composition Competition (2004), and the Czech Republic, where he was featured composer of the Ostrava Oboe Festival in both 2005 and 2009. In Asia, the Tainan Women’s College of Arts and Technology hosted a two-day conference featuring Mertl’s music in May 2005 and lectures and performances followed at several other Taiwanese universities. His music has also been performed in China, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. In the US, it has been heard widely (New York City, Chicago, Boston, Rochester, Honolulu, Baltimore, Tanglewood, Colgate, Northwestern, Yale, and Princeton Universities, and Vermont Public Radio during a two hour program dedicated to his work). In 2007, Open Gate, an ensemble he co-founded, performed an entire evening of his chamber music on a tour that began at the Crane School of Music and Cornell University and culminated at Weill Recital Hall in New York City.
Mertl has degrees from Yale University
(BA 1991) and the Eastman School of Music
(Ph.D. in Music Composition 2005). He has been fulltime Visiting Artist of Composition at the Setnor School of Music
at Syracuse University (2008-2010) and has been composer-in-residence at The Ragdale Foundation (August 2008), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
(Fall 2007, Summer and Fall 2009), at the I-Park Artists Enclave in East Haddam, CT (July 2006, May 2008, October and December 2009), and at the Chamber Music Festival of the East at Bennington College in Vermont (2001). He has won major awards such as the Chicago Symphony’s First Hearing Award and a 1998 Tanglewood Composition Fellowship. At Tanglewood, he had the tremendous privilege of studying with Henri Dutilleux
and Mauricio Kagel
.
Of primary importance to him is always his music’s relationship to the performer. Although his work is challenging, it strives to communicate with great sincerity. Upcoming works include a cello concerto commissioned by the superb French cellist Xavier Phillips, whose playing is a prime source of inspiration for the work, and a song cycle for vocalist Kirsten Sollek and guitarist Kenneth Meyer. Next year he will be a fellow at the Fundación Valparaiso
in Spain and at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico.
at Syracuse University. He has degrees from Yale University
(BA 1991) and the Eastman School of Music
(Ph.D. in Music Composition 2005) and has been composer-in-residence at The Ragdale Foundation (August 2008), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Fall 2007), at the I-Park Artists Enclave in East Haddam, CT (July 2006, May 2008, September 2009), and at the Chamber Music Festival of the East at Bennington College in Vermont (2001). He has won major awards such as the Chicago Symphony's First Hearing Award and a 1998 Tanglewood Composition Fellowship. At Tanglewood, he had the tremendous privilege of studying with Henri Dutilleux
and Mauricio Kagel
.
Based on the 2008 work on a Czech children's tale. In German, Czech and English translations.
for members of the ensemble "Die Reihe".
Piano Concerto (2008-2009) for piano and symphonic winds, duration 24 minutes.
Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition and written for Solungga Liu and the
University of Minnesota Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Craig Kirchhoff, conductor.
Apám emlékére.
Little Ant Got Hurt Polámal Se Mraveneček (2008) A Czech children’s tale for solo oboe, duration 14 minutes.
Written for oboist Marlen Vavřikovà for performance at the Ostrava Oboe Festival, 2009.
Premiered May 2009 Ostrava University, Czech Republic.
Pears on a Sill (2007) for solo piano, dur. 13 min.
in 4 movements: 3 a.m. Nightingale; Spinning Waltz; Boatman’s Song; Caitlyn’s Goodbye.
dedicated to Anne Modugno and written for pianist Solungga Liu
Premiered April 2009 National Concert Hall Taipei, Taiwan.
A Seeker’s Song (2006) for solo guitar, duration 9 minutes.
Commissioned by Kenneth Meyer with partial funding from the Hanson Institute.
Premiered November 8, 2006 by Kenneth Meyer, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY.
À l’écoute (2005) for 2 oboes and harpsichord, dur. 15 min.
Commissioned for the Ostrava Oboe Festival, Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Premiered November 25, 2005 by Marlen Vavrikova and Richard Killmer, Ostrava University.
Madra’s Musings (2005) for flute, viola and harp. dur. 10 min.
Written for janus.
Premiered January 31, 2007 by janus, Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
, New York City.
Fanfare to an Open Sky (2003) for 3 trumpets, 4 horns, 2 trombones, tuba and timpani, dur. 3 min.
Premiered November 2003, Central College, Iowa.
Aria (2003) for oboe, violin, viola and cello, dur. 11 min.
Commissioned by Alice Caplow-Sparks.
Premiered April 12, 2003, Eastman School of Music
.
Love, Play On (2002) for wind ensemble, duration 24 min.
Commissioned by the Big Ten University Wind Ensembles.
Premiered April 25, 2003, Northwestern University
.
Pandora’s Beethoven-Box (2001) for orchestra, dur. 10 min.
Commissioned by the Phoenix Symphony
for its 2002 Beethoven Festival
Premiered January 31, 2002 in Symphony Hall
, Phoenix, AZ.
The Phoenix Symphony, Hermann Michael, conductor.
for inspiration hath no society with reason (2001) for woodwind quintet, dur. 6 min.
Commissioned by the Chamber Music Festival of the East.
Premiered August 11, 2001 at Bennington College, Bennington, VT.
Lover Calls (2001) for seven cellos (also transcribed for six cellos and bass), dur. 7 min.
Commissioned by the Tarab Cello Ensemble.
Premiered May 12, 2001 at the Merryall Center for the Arts, New Milford, CT.
Evocations of an Earthly Nature (2000) for orchestra, dur. 15 min.
Commissioned by ASCAP and the Rhode Island Philharmonic in honor of the
Aaron Copland Centenary.
Premiered June 16, 2000 in Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston.
Rhode Island Philharmonic, Larry Rachleff, conductor.
Afterglow of a Kiss (2000) for solo flute and large chamber ensemble, dur. 7 min.
Premiered February 29, 2000 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music
:
Composers’ Sinfonietta, Alyce Johnson, flute, David Gilbert, conductor.
Recitative to an Absent Sky (1999) for solo cello, dur. 6 min.
Premiered February 4, 2000 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music:
Florent Renard-Payen, cello.
A Spell of Myriad Dances (1999) for orchestra, dur. 15 min.
Paul Jacobs Memorial Fund Commission by the Tanglewood Music Center
.
Premiered July 26, 1999 during the Contemporary Music Festival, Ozawa Hall.
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Stefan Asbury, conductor.
Trio & Consort (1999) for English horn, seven oboes and percussion, dur. 13 min.
Commissioned by Richard Killmer.
Premiered August 12, 1999 at the International Double Reed Society
Conference, Madison, WI.
Richard Killmer, Anna Hendrickson, Andrea Gross, and Eastman oboe choir.
Sculpted Memory (1998) for chamber orchestra, dur. 10 min.
Commissioned by the Fairbanks Symphony.
Premiered January 30, 1999 in Davis Hall, University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
Arctic Chamber Orchestra, Madeline Schatz, conductor.
Quatre Aperçus (1998) for mezzo-soprano, clarinet and piano, dur. 13 min.
Premiered February 4, 1999 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music
.
Kirsten Sollek-Avella, Anthony Franco, David Riley.
Empress (1998) for large chamber ensemble, dur. 12 min.
Premiered July 19, 1998 in Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood, MA.
Tanglewood Fellows, Stefan Asbury, conductor.
Spiralcycle (1998) for tape, dur. 21 min.
Premiered April 16, 1998 in Tuttle Theater, SUNY Brockport, NY.
Augusto Soledade, choreographer.
But the Stars Are Slower Still (1997) for orchestra, dur. 18 min.
Premiered February 2, 1998 in Orchestra Hall, Chicago, IL
Chicago Civic Orchestra, Cilff Colnot, conductor.
Souffle et Contresouffle (1996) for piano, dur. 9 min.
Premiered February 17, 1997 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music
.
Stephen Perry, piano.
Pavane en forme de voûte (1996) for oboe and string orchestra, dur. 10 min.
Premiered December 12, 1996 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music
.
Anna Hendrickson, oboe and Eastman Strings, David Phillips, conductor.
Tanglewood Music Center
The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops designed to provide an intense training and networking experience...
(1999), the Rhode Island Philharmonic (2000), the Tarab Cello Ensemble (2001), the Phoenix Symphony
Phoenix Symphony
The Phoenix Symphony is a major United States symphony orchestra based in Phoenix, Arizona.Founded in 1947 when Phoenix had a population of less than 100,000, the orchestra began as an occasional group of musicians performing a handful of concerts each year...
(2001), the Wind Ensembles of the Big Ten Universities (2002), the Ostrava Oboe Festival, Czech Republic (2005, 2009) and Kenneth Meyer and the Hanson Institute (2006). His latest work, a piano concerto commissioned by the Barlow Endowment
Barlow Endowment
The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition is a scholarship established in September 1983 through the generosity of Milton A. and Gloria Barlow. Motivated by their love of music, the Barlows presented a substantial gift to Brigham Young University, engendering and supporting excellence in musical...
for Solungga Liu and the University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble receives its premiere in fall 2011 and will subsequently be recorded on Innova Records
Innova Records
Innova Recordings is the independent record label of the non-profit American Composers Forum, based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1982 as a way to document the winners of the McKnight Fellowship offered by its parent organization, the Minnesota Innova Recordings is the independent...
.
In 2010 he presented work on a concert/lecture tour in Romania and Hungary and as a guest composer at KOFOMI (Komponistenforum Mittersill, Austria) where he had performances by the Austrian contemporary music ensemble "Die Reihe". Previously his music has reached audiences in France, at the Festival du Moulin d’Andé and the France Musique radio station, Belgium, where he placed third at the Harelbeke International Wind Ensemble Composition Competition (2004), and the Czech Republic, where he was featured composer of the Ostrava Oboe Festival in both 2005 and 2009. In Asia, the Tainan Women’s College of Arts and Technology hosted a two-day conference featuring Mertl’s music in May 2005 and lectures and performances followed at several other Taiwanese universities. His music has also been performed in China, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. In the US, it has been heard widely (New York City, Chicago, Boston, Rochester, Honolulu, Baltimore, Tanglewood, Colgate, Northwestern, Yale, and Princeton Universities, and Vermont Public Radio during a two hour program dedicated to his work). In 2007, Open Gate, an ensemble he co-founded, performed an entire evening of his chamber music on a tour that began at the Crane School of Music and Cornell University and culminated at Weill Recital Hall in New York City.
Mertl has degrees from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(BA 1991) and the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
(Ph.D. in Music Composition 2005). He has been fulltime Visiting Artist of Composition at the Setnor School of Music
Setnor School of Music
The Rose, Jules R., and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music is one of five areas of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University. The Setnor School offers both undergraduate and graduate study options in a larger university setting...
at Syracuse University (2008-2010) and has been composer-in-residence at The Ragdale Foundation (August 2008), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts is an artists’ community in Amherst, Virginia, USA. Since 1971, VCCA has offered residencies of two weeks to two months for international artists, writers, and composers at its working retreat in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains...
(Fall 2007, Summer and Fall 2009), at the I-Park Artists Enclave in East Haddam, CT (July 2006, May 2008, October and December 2009), and at the Chamber Music Festival of the East at Bennington College in Vermont (2001). He has won major awards such as the Chicago Symphony’s First Hearing Award and a 1998 Tanglewood Composition Fellowship. At Tanglewood, he had the tremendous privilege of studying with Henri Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century, producing work in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in a style distinctly his own...
and Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:...
.
Of primary importance to him is always his music’s relationship to the performer. Although his work is challenging, it strives to communicate with great sincerity. Upcoming works include a cello concerto commissioned by the superb French cellist Xavier Phillips, whose playing is a prime source of inspiration for the work, and a song cycle for vocalist Kirsten Sollek and guitarist Kenneth Meyer. Next year he will be a fellow at the Fundación Valparaiso
Fundación Valparaíso
Fundación Valparaíso is an international arts residency organization located on the Mediterranean coast of Andalucia, Spain, in the old Moorish hilltown of Mojacar....
in Spain and at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico.
Awards and recognition
Mertl is fulltime Visiting Artist of Composition at the Setnor School of MusicSetnor School of Music
The Rose, Jules R., and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music is one of five areas of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University. The Setnor School offers both undergraduate and graduate study options in a larger university setting...
at Syracuse University. He has degrees from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
(BA 1991) and the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
(Ph.D. in Music Composition 2005) and has been composer-in-residence at The Ragdale Foundation (August 2008), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Fall 2007), at the I-Park Artists Enclave in East Haddam, CT (July 2006, May 2008, September 2009), and at the Chamber Music Festival of the East at Bennington College in Vermont (2001). He has won major awards such as the Chicago Symphony's First Hearing Award and a 1998 Tanglewood Composition Fellowship. At Tanglewood, he had the tremendous privilege of studying with Henri Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux
Henri Dutilleux is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century, producing work in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in a style distinctly his own...
and Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:...
.
List of Compositions
Little Ant Got Hurt "Der kleinen Ameise tat's weh" (2010) for clarinet, bassoon, contrabass and narrator. Duration 15 minutes.Based on the 2008 work on a Czech children's tale. In German, Czech and English translations.
for members of the ensemble "Die Reihe".
Piano Concerto (2008-2009) for piano and symphonic winds, duration 24 minutes.
Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition and written for Solungga Liu and the
University of Minnesota Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Craig Kirchhoff, conductor.
Apám emlékére.
Little Ant Got Hurt Polámal Se Mraveneček (2008) A Czech children’s tale for solo oboe, duration 14 minutes.
Written for oboist Marlen Vavřikovà for performance at the Ostrava Oboe Festival, 2009.
Premiered May 2009 Ostrava University, Czech Republic.
Pears on a Sill (2007) for solo piano, dur. 13 min.
in 4 movements: 3 a.m. Nightingale; Spinning Waltz; Boatman’s Song; Caitlyn’s Goodbye.
dedicated to Anne Modugno and written for pianist Solungga Liu
Premiered April 2009 National Concert Hall Taipei, Taiwan.
A Seeker’s Song (2006) for solo guitar, duration 9 minutes.
Commissioned by Kenneth Meyer with partial funding from the Hanson Institute.
Premiered November 8, 2006 by Kenneth Meyer, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY.
À l’écoute (2005) for 2 oboes and harpsichord, dur. 15 min.
Commissioned for the Ostrava Oboe Festival, Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Premiered November 25, 2005 by Marlen Vavrikova and Richard Killmer, Ostrava University.
Madra’s Musings (2005) for flute, viola and harp. dur. 10 min.
Written for janus.
Premiered January 31, 2007 by janus, Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, New York City.
Fanfare to an Open Sky (2003) for 3 trumpets, 4 horns, 2 trombones, tuba and timpani, dur. 3 min.
Premiered November 2003, Central College, Iowa.
Aria (2003) for oboe, violin, viola and cello, dur. 11 min.
Commissioned by Alice Caplow-Sparks.
Premiered April 12, 2003, Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
.
Love, Play On (2002) for wind ensemble, duration 24 min.
Commissioned by the Big Ten University Wind Ensembles.
Premiered April 25, 2003, Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
.
Pandora’s Beethoven-Box (2001) for orchestra, dur. 10 min.
Commissioned by the Phoenix Symphony
Phoenix Symphony
The Phoenix Symphony is a major United States symphony orchestra based in Phoenix, Arizona.Founded in 1947 when Phoenix had a population of less than 100,000, the orchestra began as an occasional group of musicians performing a handful of concerts each year...
for its 2002 Beethoven Festival
Premiered January 31, 2002 in Symphony Hall
Symphony Hall
Symphony Hall usually refers to:* Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, USAIt may also refer to:Concert Halls* Allentown Symphony Hall in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA* Phoenix Symphony Hall in Phoenix, Arizona, USA...
, Phoenix, AZ.
The Phoenix Symphony, Hermann Michael, conductor.
for inspiration hath no society with reason (2001) for woodwind quintet, dur. 6 min.
Commissioned by the Chamber Music Festival of the East.
Premiered August 11, 2001 at Bennington College, Bennington, VT.
Lover Calls (2001) for seven cellos (also transcribed for six cellos and bass), dur. 7 min.
Commissioned by the Tarab Cello Ensemble.
Premiered May 12, 2001 at the Merryall Center for the Arts, New Milford, CT.
Evocations of an Earthly Nature (2000) for orchestra, dur. 15 min.
Commissioned by ASCAP and the Rhode Island Philharmonic in honor of the
Aaron Copland Centenary.
Premiered June 16, 2000 in Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston.
Rhode Island Philharmonic, Larry Rachleff, conductor.
Afterglow of a Kiss (2000) for solo flute and large chamber ensemble, dur. 7 min.
Premiered February 29, 2000 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
:
Composers’ Sinfonietta, Alyce Johnson, flute, David Gilbert, conductor.
Recitative to an Absent Sky (1999) for solo cello, dur. 6 min.
Premiered February 4, 2000 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music:
Florent Renard-Payen, cello.
A Spell of Myriad Dances (1999) for orchestra, dur. 15 min.
Paul Jacobs Memorial Fund Commission by the Tanglewood Music Center
Tanglewood Music Center
The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops designed to provide an intense training and networking experience...
.
Premiered July 26, 1999 during the Contemporary Music Festival, Ozawa Hall.
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Stefan Asbury, conductor.
Trio & Consort (1999) for English horn, seven oboes and percussion, dur. 13 min.
Commissioned by Richard Killmer.
Premiered August 12, 1999 at the International Double Reed Society
International Double Reed Society
The International Double Reed Society is a Finksburg, Maryland-based organization that promotes the interests of double reed players, instrument manufacturers and enthusiasts....
Conference, Madison, WI.
Richard Killmer, Anna Hendrickson, Andrea Gross, and Eastman oboe choir.
Sculpted Memory (1998) for chamber orchestra, dur. 10 min.
Commissioned by the Fairbanks Symphony.
Premiered January 30, 1999 in Davis Hall, University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
Arctic Chamber Orchestra, Madeline Schatz, conductor.
Quatre Aperçus (1998) for mezzo-soprano, clarinet and piano, dur. 13 min.
Premiered February 4, 1999 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
.
Kirsten Sollek-Avella, Anthony Franco, David Riley.
Empress (1998) for large chamber ensemble, dur. 12 min.
Premiered July 19, 1998 in Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood, MA.
Tanglewood Fellows, Stefan Asbury, conductor.
Spiralcycle (1998) for tape, dur. 21 min.
Premiered April 16, 1998 in Tuttle Theater, SUNY Brockport, NY.
Augusto Soledade, choreographer.
But the Stars Are Slower Still (1997) for orchestra, dur. 18 min.
Premiered February 2, 1998 in Orchestra Hall, Chicago, IL
Chicago Civic Orchestra, Cilff Colnot, conductor.
Souffle et Contresouffle (1996) for piano, dur. 9 min.
Premiered February 17, 1997 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
.
Stephen Perry, piano.
Pavane en forme de voûte (1996) for oboe and string orchestra, dur. 10 min.
Premiered December 12, 1996 in Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
.
Anna Hendrickson, oboe and Eastman Strings, David Phillips, conductor.