Photo by Becky Oehlers
Tony Solitro composes concert and stage music that is “fraught with tension” and “amusingly intricate.” Politics, history, literature, drama, and visual art inspire his compositions. Examples from recent projects include: No More in Darkness, a meditation on a feminist explorer’s journey to Tibet; More Beautiful Than Night, a cycle of gay love songs interweaving romance, sensuality, and bawdy quips; living—despite | living—against, which incorporates the syncopated rhythms of protest chants; and Les Bouteilles de la Table Ronde, a surrealist drinking song for women, integrated within a mixed-media installation.
Endlessly fascinated by vocal timbre and virtuosic singing, Tony’s musical style is inherently theatrical and operatic. “Delightfully executed with sidesplitting hilarity,” his mythology-infused romantic-comedy Triangle was hailed “a standout favorite” (Theater Times). Commissioned by Boston Opera Collaborative and premiered in partnership with Boston New Music Initiative, it was praised for its “spiky, smashing, blasting” orchestrations (the Intelligencer). In his 2016 vignette She’s Fabulous—a “wonderfully humorous” satire featuring two bitter opera divas—Solitro conjured “spastically dramatic and emotionally volatile music…juxtaposing lush arias with brisk recitatives” (the Intelligencer).
Winner of the Cheryl A. Spector Prize from the Third Millennium Ensemble, Tony’s string quintet Shadow Confrontations was composed for bassist Joseph Conyers (Assistant Principal, Philadelphia Orchestra) and recorded with the Daedalus Quartet. He was awarded fellowships and artist residencies at Yaddo, Brush Creek, Kimmel Harding Nelson, VCCA, and the Brevard Music Center. He earned his Ph.D. as a recipient of the George Crumb Music Fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.M. from the Longy School of Music on a Nadia and Lili Boulanger Scholarship. To hear recordings, see videos, and explore his composition catalogue, visit www.tonysolitro.com.