New Work by Tobias Picker, 'The Waking' to Receive World Premiere at NYCO Renaissance Gala Honoring Julius Rudel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE WAKING, A NEW WORK FOR SOPRANO AND ORCHESTRA BY INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED AMERICAN COMPOSER TOBIAS PICKER TO RECEIVE WORLD PREMIERE AT NEW YORK CITY OPERA RENAISSANCE CONCERT TO CELEBRATE THE LIFE OF JULIUS RUDEL MARCH 9, 2015

The Waking, a concert aria for soprano and orchestra by Tobias Picker, based on an evocative poem by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet Theodore Roethke, will receive its world premiere performance at the New York City Opera Renaissance Concert to celebrate the life of the late Maestro Julius Rudel Monday evening, March 9th, 2015 Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, Time Warner Center, Broadway & 60th Street.

The evening, which will feature a glittering array of opera stars, including David Daniels, Mark Delavan, Plácido Domingo, Christine Goerke, James Morris, Frederica von Stade—and Multi-Platinum Legend Sting—, will present several works by major living American composers. Mr. Picker’s work The Waking, will receive its first public performance by riveting American soprano Kristin Sampson and the New York City Opera Orchestra under the authoritative baton of American conductor Steven Osgood.

“The Waking, a concert aria on the poem of Theodore Roethke, is my gift to the NYCO Renaissance to celebrate its plan to revive NYCO and its ‘waking’ from an era of sleep”, writes Mr. Picker in his introduction to the work. “In rededicating its founding mission, NYCO is waking and ‘going where it has to go.’ The voice of the poem is that of NYCO itself—the ‘People’s Opera’—Julius Rudel, countless great artists and devoted patrons in ‘the waking’ of its 8th decade. It is the voice of the audience, the young, the old and future generations ‘taking the lively air’ and ‘going where they have to go.’” The text of the poem follows:

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. I feel my fate in what I cannot fear. I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know? I hear my being dance from ear to ear. I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you? God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there, And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how? The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair; I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do To you and me, so take the lively air, And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know. What falls away is always. And is near. I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. I learn by going where I have to go.

Tobias Picker has been called “our finest composer for the lyric stage” by The Wall Street Journal. He has composed numerous works in every genre, with commissions and performances by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Opera, Helsinki Philharmonic, L’Orchestre de Paris, Los Angeles Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Munich Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, Opéra de Montréal, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Vienna RSO, and Zurich Tonahalle, among many others.

Mr. Picker’s first opera Emmeline (1996) was given its historic New York premiere by the New York City Opera in 1998. Emmeline, Fantastic Mr. Fox (1998), Thérèse Raquin (2001), and An American Tragedy (2005)—are receiving new productions this season. His fifth opera, Dolores Claiborne, premiered at San Francisco Opera in 2013. Picker’s sixth opera is to be announced shortly. He is currently composing a concerto for orchestra for the National Symphony Orchestra to be premiered during the 2015-16 season commissioned by The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Mr. Picker has a large discography including the 2014 Tzadik Records release of Invisible Lilacs, a collection of his chamber music spanning four decades. Picker has received numerous important awards and honors including election to lifetime membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2012. His music is published exclusively worldwide by Schott Music.

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For $350 premium concert tickets plus Champagne Reception or for $175 concert (only) tickets, please visit the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, Broadway at 60th Street, ground floor; call CenterCharge at 212 721-6500; or purchase online at http://www.jazz.org/events/t-4354

In honor of the intent of the People's Opera, and the wish of Maestro Julius Rudel to make opera accessible, the Rudel Family and Friends have generously underwritten a limited number of $25 tickets available to the concert. Go to http://www.jazz.org/events/t-4354 and use the code: NEWNYCO

For VIP Package Tickets & Table (very limited availability) please call 212 877-0500. Festivities take place in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, as follows:

Champagne Reception: 6 p.m. in the Ertegun Atrium Concert: 7 p.m. (promptly) in the Rose Theater Dinner: 8:30 p.m. in the Appel Room, followed by Dessert Reception: 10 p.m. in the Ertegun Atrium

All gala proceeds will benefit NYCO Renaissance Ltd., a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit company committed to an artistically vibrant and financially sound renewal of the city’s beloved opera company. New York City Opera was famously dubbed “The People’s Opera” by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia at its founding in 1943. Now, more than 70 years later, NYCO Renaissance aims to renew the company’s historic mission to inspire audiences with innovative and theatrically compelling opera, nurture the work of promising American artists, and build new audiences through affordable ticket prices and extensive outreach and education programs throughout the concert season.

Please visit our website at www.NYCOrenaissance.com for more information. # # # # #