User:Mcmoricz

Michael Moricz

Michael Moricz is active in the fields of orchestral, theater, dance and television music as a composer, arranger, conductor and pianist. He has composed orchestral & chamber works, incidental music for theater, done arrangements for many prominent American performers and orchestras, conducted musical theater, orchestral pops and many dance performances. He was the second Music Director (from 1996 until Fred Rogers' death) for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on PBS, and has also contributed original music for television productions on the Fox, Disney, Showtime, Discovery, and PBS networks. Michael has arranged material for Renee Fleming, John Lithgow, Tommy Tune, Chita Rivera, Kander & Ebb, the "Three Mo' Tenors," Linda Lavin, Thomas Hampson, Michele Lee, Gary Beach, Kevin Glavin, Glory Crampton, David Budway, Opie Bellas and many others. He has done special dance arrangements for Chita Rivera, Tommy Tune, Lee Roy Reams, Vivian Reed and for choreographers Tony Stevens,  Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Tome Cousin, David Bell, Syrie Moskowitz & Keisha Lalama-White.

Since 1990 Michael has often worked with the Pittsburgh Symphony, where his compositions and arrangements have been conducted by Mariss Jansons, Marvin Hamlisch, Lucas Richman and others. In 2004 he music directed their sold-out Gala concert The Music of Fred Rogers. His music has also been performed by the Pennsylvania Orchestra (Academy of Music, Philadelphia), North Carolina Symphony, Virginia Symphony, the Hamilton Philharmonic, at music festivals in Kansas and Aspen and by the Kennedy Center Orchestra at Wolf Trap, where he has conducted his own music.

Michael was the company pianist and assistant conductor for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre from 1988-1997, during Patricia Wilde's directorship of the company. From 1992-1996 he was also the company's Resident Composer and his original orchestral ballets include The Mighty Casey, Amazing Grace and Hunter's Moon (all with choreographer Lisa de Ribere), and a full length The Great Gatsby (Bruce Wells). He arranged music of Tchaikovsky for John Taras' ballet Trios and in addition to many of his own works has conducted performances of repertoire by Balanchine, Dwight Rhoden, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Ben Stevenson as well as Janek Schergen's full-length production of The Sleeping Beauty. His ballet scores have been heard in the repertoire of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, the Milwaukee, Tulsa and San Jose Ballets. His most recent orchestral ballet score was for Lynne Taylor-Corbett's The Ugly Duckling, commissioned and premiered by Robert Weiss' Carolina Ballet.

Michael has played dance rehearsals for the Mark Morris Dance Group, American Ballet Theatre, the Houston Ballet, and for such renowned repetiteurs as Georgette Tsingurides, John Taras, Merrill Ashley, Georgina Parkinson, Bart Cook, Janek Schergen, Victoria Simon, Hiller Huhn, Tina Fehlandt, Bronwen Curry and others. Since moving to New York in 2001, he has become one of the most sought-after class pianists in the city, where he enjoys an ongoing association with both ABT and the Mark Morris companies. He has played for classes by John Meehan, David Howard, Martine van Hamel, Mark Morris, Willy Burmann, Kevin McKenzie, Suzanne Farrell, Patricia Wilde, Kirk Peterson, Nancy Bielski, Peter Schabel,  Ib Anderson, Johnny Eliasen, Diana Cartier,  Suki Schorer, Ian Horvath, Mansur Kamaletdinov, Lauren Anderson,  Bruce Wells and the Hubbard Street Dance Company, to name only a few.

Michael has written a substantial amount of incidental music, for Ted Pappas' productions at the Pittsburgh Public Theater (Mary Stuart, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, Medea and others), for Columbia University (Crocodile Eyes) and for the Irish & Classical Theatre (Dorian Gray, David Hare's Racing Demon). He has conducted musical theater in Houston and Pittsburgh and played, arranged for or music directed performances, benefits, productions and workshops in New York, collaborating with directors Wm. Philip McKinley, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Eduardo Machado, David Bell, William Castellino and Albert Stephenson.

Michael has been the long-time arranger/music director of The Gene Kelly Awards annually for Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and has performed similar duties annually for The Tommy Tune Awards (Houston Theater Under The Stars) and The Capitol Awards (Raleigh, NC). He music directed the very first National High School Musical Theatre Awards at New York University in July 2009 for the Nederlanders.

In addition to much post-scoring in the recording studio, Michael arranged & produced the celebrated children's CD "Time to Sing" and Opie Bellas' CD "Live for Life." Michael is currently finishing a new CD collaboration with Julia Ecklar and writing new orchestral arrangements for singer B.E. Taylor, to premiere in June of 2010 with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Marvin Hamlisch conducting.