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Stanley Walden
Stanley Walden (born December 2, 1932) is an American composer, musical performer, and professor of musical theater. He has written music for the theater (musicals, operas, ballets) in America and Europe, as well as for the concert stage (Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland and Louisville Orchestras; and chamber music for Carole Cowan, Jan DeGaetani, Reri Grist, Gilbert Kalish, Joel Krosnick, Robert Levin and many others). He has also been a clarinetist, actor and director. He is perhaps best known for writing music and lyrics of the revue Oh! Calcutta! He has also written a number of song cycles.
Walden attended James Madison High School and studied modern dance with Merce Cunningham. He then attended New York University and Queens College, studying clarinet with David Weber and composition with Ben Weber. From 1953 to 1955 – and after serving in the U.S. Army as principal clarinetist of the 7th Army Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart (1955–57) – he worked as musical assistant to choreographers such as Martha Graham, José Limón, Jerome Robbins and Daniel Nagrin until 1960.
From 1957 to 1970, Walden lived in New York, performing as a clarinetist. He has played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and as bass clarinetist with the New York Woodwind Quintet, among others, and was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, the Gramercy Chamber Ensemble, the Penn Contemporary Players and performed with the Group for Contemporary Music.
In 1967, he founded, along with Peter Schickele and Robert Dennis, the composition and performing trio The Open Window. In 1969, they composed the music and lyrics to the revue Oh! Calcutta!, which went on to become the longest running revue in Broadway history. The Open Window received a Grammy Award nomination for best score from an original cast album.
In 1970, Walden joined The Open Theater and composed the music for The Serpent and The Mutation Show. He then went on to join The Winter Project with Joseph Chaikin.
In 1970, he met the Hungarian writer and theater director George Tabori. They collaborated on more than 50 theater productions, including Pinkville (New York 1970, Berlin 1971), Sigmunds Freude (Bremen 1975), The Sinking of the Titanic, My Mother's Courage, Improvisations on Shylock (Munich 1980-81), Jubiläum (in which Walden acted a major role) and Peepshow (Bochum 1983-84).
Walden then went to the Vienna Burgtheater with Tabori and Claus Peymann, where Mein Kampf, Ballade der Wienerschnitzel, Requiem for a Spy, and The Goldberg Variations (1991) were produced. In Tabori's own theater, Der Kreis (The Circle), they collaborated on Masada, Lear's Shadow and For the Second Time, in which Walden starred with Hanna Schygulla. At the Berliner Ensemble, they produced The Brecht Files (1999) and The Earthquake Concerto (2002).
In addition, Walden has also composed his own stage works, such as a jazz opera of Gertrude Stein's Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (UA Cologne 1983, New York), the opera Liebster Vater (UA Bremen 1987, also produced in Berlin, Leipzig, Weimar and in New York in 2002) and Bach's Letzte Oper, a work commissioned by Der Danske Oper, with libretto by Jess Ornsbro (UA Erfurt 2002).
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Stanley Walden
Stanley Walden (born December 2, 1932) is an American composer, musical performer, and professor of musical theater. He has written music for the theater (musicals, operas, ballets) in America and Europe, as well as for the concert stage (Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland and Louisville Orchestras; and chamber music for Carole Cowan, Jan DeGaetani, Reri Grist, Gilbert Kalish, Joel Krosnick, Robert Levin and many others). He has also been a clarinetist, actor and director. He is perhaps best known for writing music and lyrics of the revue Oh! Calcutta! He has also written a number of song cycles.
Walden attended James Madison High School and studied modern dance with Merce Cunningham. He then attended New York University and Queens College, studying clarinet with David Weber and composition with Ben Weber. From 1953 to 1955 – and after serving in the U.S. Army as principal clarinetist of the 7th Army Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart (1955–57) – he worked as musical assistant to choreographers such as Martha Graham, José Limón, Jerome Robbins and Daniel Nagrin until 1960.
From 1957 to 1970, Walden lived in New York, performing as a clarinetist. He has played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and as bass clarinetist with the New York Woodwind Quintet, among others, and was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, the Gramercy Chamber Ensemble, the Penn Contemporary Players and performed with the Group for Contemporary Music.
In 1967, he founded, along with Peter Schickele and Robert Dennis, the composition and performing trio The Open Window. In 1969, they composed the music and lyrics to the revue Oh! Calcutta!, which went on to become the longest running revue in Broadway history. The Open Window received a Grammy Award nomination for best score from an original cast album.
In 1970, Walden joined The Open Theater and composed the music for The Serpent and The Mutation Show. He then went on to join The Winter Project with Joseph Chaikin.
In 1970, he met the Hungarian writer and theater director George Tabori. They collaborated on more than 50 theater productions, including Pinkville (New York 1970, Berlin 1971), Sigmunds Freude (Bremen 1975), The Sinking of the Titanic, My Mother's Courage, Improvisations on Shylock (Munich 1980-81), Jubiläum (in which Walden acted a major role) and Peepshow (Bochum 1983-84).
Walden then went to the Vienna Burgtheater with Tabori and Claus Peymann, where Mein Kampf, Ballade der Wienerschnitzel, Requiem for a Spy, and The Goldberg Variations (1991) were produced. In Tabori's own theater, Der Kreis (The Circle), they collaborated on Masada, Lear's Shadow and For the Second Time, in which Walden starred with Hanna Schygulla. At the Berliner Ensemble, they produced The Brecht Files (1999) and The Earthquake Concerto (2002).
In addition, Walden has also composed his own stage works, such as a jazz opera of Gertrude Stein's Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (UA Cologne 1983, New York), the opera Liebster Vater (UA Bremen 1987, also produced in Berlin, Leipzig, Weimar and in New York in 2002) and Bach's Letzte Oper, a work commissioned by Der Danske Oper, with libretto by Jess Ornsbro (UA Erfurt 2002).