Modern Music and After: Directions Since 1945
by Paul Griffiths
Period: Late 20th Century
Born: c. 1962 in Phoenix, Arizona (USA)
As of May 2006 this composer is still living.
To report updated information, please see the Contact Info page.
Nation of Origin: United States
Major Works:
Global Warming
Frederick's Fables
Other Information:
Please note: Michael Abels does not publish his date of birth on his Web page. Given that he was a college senior in 1984, however, the birth year estimate of 1962 seems reasonable.
Excerpt from michaelabels.com:
With a "keen ear
for musical color and a deft ability to adapt structural elements from popular
music into the symphonic idiom" (Houston Chronicle), Michael Abels has gained
widespread recognition for his orchestral pieces Global Warming and
Frederick's Fables. Global Warming has been given nearly 100
performances by orchestras including Chicago, Cleveland, Atlanta, Houston,
Baltimore, Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Dallas, Detroit, Nashville,
Phoenix, West Virginia, New Mexico, Tucson, Savannah, Dayton, and Toledo as
well as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
Global Warming,
featured in the Detroit Symphony's 1992 African-American Symphony Composers
Forum, was one of the first works of a black composer to be performed by the
National Symphony of South Africa following the election of President Mandela.
Suggesting both the hot, dry weather of Arizona and the improving "warm" relations
between disparate cultures, Global Warming was praised by the Cleveland
Plain Dealer as "a juxtaposition of elements unleashed in an irresistible
display of orchestral color."
General Bibliography:
Kennedy, Michael, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 1997, ISBN: 0198691629
Lampert, Vera; Kemp, Ian; and White, Eric Walter, The New Grove Modern Masters (The New Grove Series), W. W. Norton & Company, November 1997, ISBN: 0393315924
Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John; Editors, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Groves Dictionaries, Inc., January 2001, ISBN: 1561592390
Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura; Editors, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Gale Group, December 2000, ISBN: 0028655257
Slonimsky, Nicolas, Music Since 1900, Schirmer Books, July 1994, ISBN: 0028724186
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