Tony Solitro composes concert and stage music that is “fraught with tension” and “amusingly intricate” (The Theatre Times). Politics, history, literature, drama, and visual art inspire his compositions.
Examples from recent projects include: No More in Darkness, a meditation on Alexandra David-Neel’s pioneering journey to Tibet; More Beautiful Than Night, a cycle of gay love songs interweaving romance, sensuality, and humor; living—despite | living—against, incorporating 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.
“Delightfully executed with sidesplitting hilarity,” Tony’s mythology-infused comedy Trianglewas performed during the National Opera Association’s 2019 Conference in Salt Lake City as one of three finalists for the Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition. Commissioned by Boston Opera Collaborative and premiered in partnership with Boston New Music Initiative, it was hailed “a standout favorite” and 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).
Awarded the Grand Prize in the David Walter Composition Competition (International Society of Bassists), 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, I-Park Foundation, Kimmel Harding Nelson, VCCA, and the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. 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.