Tobias Picker, called “our finest composer for the lyric stage” by The Wall Street Journal, is a composer of numerous works in every genre, drawing performances by the world’s leading musicians, orchestras and opera houses. Picker began composing at the age of 8 and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Princeton University, where his principal teachers were Charles Wuorinen, Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt. His first commissions occurred while still in his late teens, and he quickly became established as one of America’s most sought-after young composers.

Known for his operas Emmaline, which was broadcast nationally on public television’s “Great Performances,” An American Tragedy, premiered by the Metropolitan Opera in 2005, and Thérèse Raquin, Picker’s operatic adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, commissioned and premiered by the Los Angeles Opera, established him as a composer whose appeal crosses all boundaries of age.

Major orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra have performed Picker’s symphonic music, including the well-known tone poem Old and Lost Rivers. His piano concerto Keys to the City (commissioned by the City of New York on the occasion of the centenary of the Brooklyn Bridge) is a perennial favorite, called “a vivid musical portrait of New York” by The New York Times.

Picker’s complete catalogue includes three symphonies; four piano concertos; concertos for violin, viola, cello and oboe; numerous songs; string quartets and chamber music for various combinations of instruments.

LEARN MORE:

Visit Tobias Picker’s website to listen to audio clips from several of his works, read his complete biography and explore his recordings.

Watch a video and see the score of a solo piano work.