Tarik O'Regan
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| Tarik O'Regan | |
 Tarik O’Regan
(photo credit: Copyright © Marion Ettlinger) |
|
| Born | 1 January 1978 |
|---|---|
| Residence | New York City and Cambridge, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Pembroke College, Oxford and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | composer |
| Website http://www.tarikoregan.com |
|
Tarik Hamilton O'Regan (born 1 January 1978, London) is a British composer, partly of North African extraction, currently living in New York City and Cambridge, England.
Contents |
[edit] Life and work
Two-time British Composer Award winner,[1] Tarik O’Regan was educated at Whitgift School and then Pembroke College, Oxford, completing his postgraduate studies at Cambridge, where he was appointed Composer in Residence at Corpus Christi College.
Described as "a brilliant new voice" (Houston Chronicle)[2] whose music "has a gritty freshness unlike that of anyone else" (The Independent, London),[3] his compositions have been performed internationally by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Los Angeles Master Chorale.
O'Regan divides his time between New York City and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he is Fellow Commoner in the Creative Arts. He has held the Fulbright Chester Schirmer Fellowship in Music Composition at Columbia University and a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard. He has also served on the Visiting Faculty of Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music.
O'Regan's current project, a chamber opera version of Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness in collaboration with the artist Tom Phillips RA,[4] is jointly in development in London with Royal Opera House OperaGenesis and in New York with American Opera Projects.
[edit] Career highlights
- 1997 - received first commissions from the Choir of New College, Oxford (with their director Edward Higginbottom) and James Bowman
- 2000 - began supervising undergraduate music at University of Cambridge
- 2002 - London premieres of Clichés with the London Sinfonietta and The Pure Good of Theory with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
- 2003 - awarded a Wingate Scholarship
- 2004 - moved to New York City to take up the Chester Schirmer Fulbright Fellowship at Columbia University and subsequently a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard
- 2005 - commenced association with Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music as a Research Affiliate
- 2005 - Sainte (from New French Songs) was the winning work in the "Vocal" category of the 2005 British Composer Awards[5]
- 2006 - debut disc, VOICES released to critical acclaim
- 2007 - appointed Fellow Commoner in the Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge
- 2007 - Threshold of Night was the winning work in the "Liturgical" category of the 2007 British Composer Awards[6]
- 2008 - Scattered Rhymes released on eponymously titled CD performed by the Orlando Consort and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir conducted by Paul Hillier
(Harmonia Mundi USA: HMU 807469)
2008
(Collegium: COLCD 130)
2006
[edit] Publications
Tarik O'Regan’s earliest works were published by Oxford University Press and Sulasol; since 2004 his music has been exclusively published by Novello & Company Limited, part of the Music Sales group of companies.
- ChesterNovello catalogue (2004-present)
- Oxford University Press catalogue (1999-2003)
[edit] Selected press
- O'Regan's 2006 debut disc, VOICES (Collegium Records COL CD 130), recorded by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, was released to critical acclaim, heralding O’Regan as "one of the most original and eloquent of young British composers" (The Observer, London),[7] "breathing new life into the idiom" (The Daily Telegraph, London).[8] International Record Review declared the recording "a committed, persuasive and highly accomplished performance of an exceptional composing voice of our time",[9] while BBC Music Magazine gave the disc a double five-star rating.[10]
- After the June 2006 premiere of Scattered Rhymes at the Spitalfields Festival, Geoff Brown, in The Times (London), described "O’Regan’s gift for lyric flight [as] boundless. You might have to reach back to Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music, or even Tallis, to find another British vocal work so exultant."[11]
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Between 1999 and 2003, O'Regan served as the classical recordings reviewer for The Observer newspaper.
- An article in The Independent newspaper on April 26, 2007 stated that O’Regan spent some of his early childhood in Algeria.[12]
- An article in The Daily Telegraph newspaper on April 28, 2007 quotes O'Regan as saying he’s "a pretty bad singer".[13]
- According to an article in The Birmingham Post on July 12, 2007, O’Regan once worked for JPMorgan Chase, the investment bank.[14]
- The artwork for O'Regan's 2006 disc, VOICES, was created by Tom Phillips, who also served as librettist on an opera based on Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness written in collaboration with O'Regan.
[edit] Discography
| Date of release | Title | Performers | Works contained | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April, 2008 | Scattered Rhymes | The Orlando Consort, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (Paul Hillier) | Scattered Rhymes, Douce dame jolie | Harmonia Mundi HMU807469 |
| November, 2007 | Fiddlesticks | Madeleine Mitchell (violin), ensemblebash (percussion quartet) | Fragments from a Gradual Process | Signum SIGCD111 |
| July, 2006 | The Quiet Room | John Lenehan (piano) | Lines of Desire | Sony Classical 82876821452 |
| July, 2006 | MacMillan and his British Contemporaries | The Choir of New College, Oxford (Edward Higginbottom) | Surrexit Christus | Avie AV2085 |
| March, 2006 | Regina Caeli | The Choir of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (Daniel Soper) | Sub tuum praesidium | Lammas LAMM188 |
| February, 2006 | Tarik O'Regan: VOICES | The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge (Timothy Brown) | Three Motets from Sequence for St Wulfstan: Beatus auctor saeculi / O vera digna hostia / Tu claustra stripe regia, Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis: Variations for Choir, Two Upper Voice Settings: Bring rest sweet dreaming child / Columba aspexit, Dorchester Canticles: Cantate Domino / Deus Misereatur, Four Mixed Voice Settings: Gratias tibi / Ave Maria / Care Charminge Sleepe / Locus iste, Colimaçon for organ. | Collegium COLCD130 |
| November, 2005 | New French Song | Alison Smart (soprano), Katharine Durran (piano) | Sainte | Metier MSVCD92100 |
| September, 2005 | St John the Baptist | The Choir of St John's College, Oxford (Ryan Wigglesworth) | De Sancto Ioanne Baptista | Cantoris CRCD6080 |
| February, 2005 | Love and Honour | The Choir of Queens' College, Cambridge (Samuel Hayes) | Cantate Domino, Tu claustra stirpe regia | Guild GMCD7287 |
| March, 2004 | Carmina Saeculi | The Elisabeth Singers, Hiroshima, Japan (Timo Nuoranne) | Gratias tibi | Brain Music OSBR20025 |
[edit] External links
[edit] See also
- Andrew Caldecott (O'Regan's great-grandfather)[15]
- William Rowan Hamilton (O'Regan's great-great-grandfather)[16]
[edit] References
- ^ 2005 British Composer Award (vocal category), 2007 British Composer Award (liturgical category)
- ^ The Houston Chronicle, October 1, 2007
- ^ The Independent (London), April 26, 2007
- ^ American Opera Projects: Heart of Darkness
- ^ Notes from St Aldate's (Music Faculty newsletter, January 2006
- ^ British Academy of Composers and Songwriters press release, December 6, 2007
- ^ The Observer (London), March 12, 2006
- ^ The Daily Telegraph (London), March 11, 2006
- ^ International Record Review, April 2006
- ^ BBC Music Magazine, May 2006
- ^ The Times (London), June 26, 2006
- ^ The Independent (London), April 26, 2007
- ^ The Daily Telegraph (London), April 28, 2007
- ^ The Birmingham Post, July 12, 2007
- ^ John O'Regan, From Empire to Commonwealth: Reflections on a Career in Britain's Overseas Service, The Radcliffe Press, 1994
- ^ ibid.
