Glen Roven
Glen Roven | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Glen Paul Roven |
| Born | July 13, 1957 |
| Died | July 25, 2018(aged 61) |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, lyricist, conductor, producer |
Glen Paul Roven(July 13, 1957 – July 25, 2018) was an American two-time[1]Emmy winningcomposer,lyricist,conductorand producer. He composed the music to "The Hillary Speeches" setting two of Mrs. Clinton's speeches to music which streamed opposite Trump's inauguration and featured opera stars Patricia Racette, Isabel Leonard, Nathan Gunn,Lawrence Brownlee,Mathew Polenzani, Kyle Ketelson, and twenty-three others. Other notable Roven compositions include aviolin concertobased on the children's bookThe Runaway Bunnywhich was recorded by Sony narrated byBrooke Shieldsand recorded by GPRrecords narrated byCatherine Zeta-Jones.Another notable composition is "Goodnight Moon, An Aria for Singer and Orchestra" which theNational Chorale performed at Geffen Hallin 2016. It was subsequently performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Kimmel Center. His Symphony No. 2 premiered at Geffen Hall (2018) and he produced with Universal Music Hopes and Dreams, The Carnegie Hall Lullaby Project with Catherine Zeta-Jones,Joyce DiDonato,Patti LuPone,Dianne Reeves,Fiona Apple,Natalie Merchant,Pretty Yendeand more. The CD hit number one in both the Classical and Pop charts. He was creating the Poetry Curriculum for K-6 for the United States Public School System. He was working on a musical forNetflixwritten by and starringDolly Parton.He was the Artist Director ofRoven Records.On July 25, 2018, Roven died at the age of 61.[2][3]
Biography
[edit]Sources differ on Roven's year of birth. His family's own published death notice states that he was born July 13, 1957,[4]while the New York Times' obituary of Roven gives a birth date of July 13, 1958.[5]Commercially available databases also state that he was born on July 13, 1957.
Stage career
[edit]While in high school, Roven worked as a rehearsal pianist forPippin.After graduation, he attendedColumbia Universityand worked on the New York productions ofVery Good Eddie,The Madwoman of CPW,Really Rosie,A Party with Betty Comden and Adolph Green,She Loves Me,andWoman of the Year.
At 19, Roven was the original musical director ofSugar BabiesonBroadwaystarringAnn MillerandMickey Rooney.
He arrangedPatti LuPone’s one-woman Broadway show and was the co-musical supervisor forLiza Minnelli's,Stepping Out,atRadio City Music Hall.He was a contributing composer for the Off-Broadway hit,A... My Name Is Alice,and wrote the scores forJohn Guare'sLydie Breeze,directed byLouis Malle,andGardenia,directed byKarel Reisz.He also composed the scores forLarry Gelbart'sMastergate,andChristopher Isherwood'sA Meeting by the River,on Broadway, andGot to Get Away.
His musical,Heart's Desire,premiered at theCleveland Play House.It was performed subsequently for one night at theShaftesbury TheatreinLondon's West enddirected bySimon Callow.
On May 28, 2008,Norman's Arkopened the Los Angeles New Musical Festival and was directed by Peter Schneider and produced by Maria S. Schlatter.
English Baritone Mark Stone, Daniel Okulitch, and Isabel Leonard recently[when?]performed evenings of Roven's Concert music at Carnegie Hall with Roven at the piano.[citation needed]
Conducting
[edit]He conducted PresidentBill Clinton's two inaugural concerts as well as PresidentGeorge W. Bush's two inaugural concerts. He also conducted and arrangedFrank SinatraandSammy Davis, Jr.'s last TV appearances. He also conducted the TV Specials,Night of 100 Stars,Night of 100 Stars II,andNight of 100 Stars III.
He made his Israeli conducting debut in 2001 conducting theIsrael Philharmonic Orchestra.He has conducted theNational Symphony,theSeattle Symphony,theHollywood Bowl Orchestra,the IKO, theMunich Philharmonic,and the Radio Luxembourg Orchestra.
Roven also arranged and conducted for Julie Andrews, Jason Alexander, Anita Baker, Kathleen Battle, Michael Bolton, Bono, Brooks and Dunn, Ray Charles, Charlotte Church, Natalie Cole, Plácido Domingo, Ella Fitzgerald, Renée Fleming, Aretha Franklin, Kenny G., Denyce Graves, Goldie Hawn, Scott Hamilton, Gregory Hines, Bob Hope, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jane Krakowski, Kermit the Frog, Patti LaBelle, Brian McKnight, Liza Minnelli, Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Diana Ross, Lily Tomlin, Shirley MacLaine, Luther Vandross, Nancy Wilson, Stevie Wonder and Trisha Yearwood.
Other ventures
[edit]As a CD producer, Roven produced (for GPRrecords): Jason Alexander, Christine Baranski, Thomas Bagwell, Jamie Barton, Charles Busch, Ann Hampton Callaway, Charles Castronovo, Tom Cipullo, Alan Cumming, Tyne Daly, Joyce DiDonato, Michael Douglas, Nathan Gunn, Lauren Flanigan, Leon Fleisher, Andrew Garland, David Garrison, Joanna Gleason, Ricky Ian Gordon, Joel Grey, Daron Hagen, Dick Hyman, Jake Heggie, Florence Henderson, Rob Kapilow, Barry Humphries, Isabel Leonard, Lowell Liebermann, Wynton Marsalis, Jorge Martín, Susanne Mentzer, Patti LuPone, Gilda Lyons, Kate Mulgrew, Cynthia Nixon, Daniel Okulitch, Chris Parker, Patricia Racette, Chris Sarandon, Paul Shaffer, William Schimmel, Noah Stewart, Paulo Szot, Talise Trevigne, Kathleen Turner, Catherine Zeta-Jones and many others.
As a translator, Roven has translated all three DaPonte/Mozart Operas: Figaro, Cosi and Don Giovanni. He translated Mahler's Ruckert Lieder, Songs of a Wayfarer, Kindertotenlieder and Des Knaben Wunderhorn. He has also translated Schubert's Wintereisse and all of Hugo Wolf's Italian Songbook.
For children, Roven produced theSharon, Lois & Bramalbum,Candles, Snow and Mistletoe(1993), which was also at thePalace Theatre,New York City.[6]He also wrote the theme for the 1990 television series,The Baby-Sitters Club.
Roven served as a contributing author to the booksGames We Play,published bySimon & Schuster,andCity Secrets.He has written articles for The New York Times, The LA Review of Books, Broadwayworld.com and many more.
Roven andMarc Shaimanappeared together as the two News Theme Writers inJames L. Brooks'sBroadcast News.[7]
Death
[edit]On Wednesday, July 25, 2018, Roven died at the age of 61.[2][8]
References
[edit]- ^"Glen Roven".Emmy Award.Television Academy. 2015.RetrievedSeptember 14,2015.
- ^ab"Composer, Conductor and Producer Glen Roven Passes Away at Age 61".Broadway World. July 25, 2018.RetrievedJuly 26,2018.
- ^Roberts, Sam (August 8, 2018)."Glen Roven, Emmy-Winning Composer and Conductor, Dies at 60".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on August 9, 2018.RetrievedAugust 9,2018.
- ^"Glen Roven Obituary - New York, NY".www.dignitymemorial.com.
- ^Roberts, Sam (August 8, 2018)."Glen Roven, Emmy-Winning Composer and Conductor, Dies at 61".The New York Times.
- ^McCormick, Moira (September 4, 1993)."Sharon, Lois & Brown in holiday spirit; Fellow Canadian penner has full plate".Billboard.p. 64.RetrievedMay 14,2010.
- ^"Some Things You May Not Have Known About Broadcast News | American Film: Movies and Media Culture".sites.psu.edu.
- ^"Superconductor Classical and Opera: Obituary: Glen Roven (1958–2018)".Superconductor Classical and Opera.July 25, 2018.RetrievedJuly 25,2018.
External links
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