Tarik O’Regan
Tarik O’Regan, “one of the leading British composers of his generation” (Gramophone) who is writing “music of startling beauty” (The Observer), was born in London in 1978. He grew up predominantly in Croydon, South London, spending some of his childhood in Morocco, where his mother was born and Algeria. Following the completion of his undergraduate studies at Pembroke College, Oxford and private study with Jeremy Dale Roberts, he began serving as the classical recordings reviewer for The Observer newspaper, a position he held for four years. During part of this time he also worked for JPMorgan Chase, the investment bank. O’Regan then continued his postgraduate studies in composition under the direction of both Robin Holloway at Cambridge University, where he was appointed Composer in Residence at Corpus Christi College and Robert Saxton. Since 2007 he has divided his time between New York City and Cambridge, England.
His recent projects include Suite from Heart of Darkness for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2013); two North African-influenced compositions: Raï, for the Dutch National Ballet, and Chaâbi, commissioned by the Australian Chamber Orchestra (2012); a third solo album on the Harmonia Mundi label, Acallam na Senórach; the premiere of his first opera Heart of Darkness at the Royal Opera House, London (2011); and Latent Manifest with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (BBC Proms commission, 2010).
Currently O’Regan is working on a full-length ballet, commissioned by the Dutch National Ballet and large-scale new works for the Hallé Orchestra, SOUK at the Royal Concertgebouw, American Opera Projects, and the University of Michigan. In 2014 he is the featured composer in the Vale of Glamorgan Festival (BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Chamber Choir Ireland) and New Music for a New Age (Washington Chorus).
He has been appointed to the Fulbright Chester Schirmer Fellowship at Columbia University; a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard; and positions at Trinity and Corpus Christi Colleges in Cambridge, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Yale, and Rutgers Universities. A frequent television and radio broadcaster, he recently wrote and presented two documentaries for BBC Radio 4: Composing LA (2012) and Composing New York (2010).
Tarik O’Regan’s music is described as “exquisite and delicate” (The Washington Post); “beautifully-imagined, holding the audience rapt” (The Financial Times); “sublime: a piece that you didn’t want to end” (The Times, London); and generating “previously unheard sound worlds with astonishing effect” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
Recorded on over 25 albums, and published exclusively by Novello & Co./Music Sales Classical, his work has attracted: two GRAMMY® nominations (including Best Classical Album), and both New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer Best Classical Releases of the Year for Threshold of Night; the NEA Artistic Excellence Award, and a South Bank Sky Arts Award nomination for Heart of Darkness; a Gramophone Award nomination for Scattered Rhymes; two British Composer Awards; and has been recognized by Time Out London (Top Five Concerts of the Year), WQXR/Q2 (CD of the Week) and WNYC (Pick of the Week).
In 2014 Tarik collaborated with fellow composer Nick Wales to create an intriguing new musical experience for Sydney Dance Company’s production Louder Than Words.