Tobias Picker

Picker's partner since 1980 has been Aryeh Lev Stollman. They were married on March 9, 2016 in a ceremony officiated by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the United States Supreme Court. Stollman is a neuroradiologist, author and librettist, and has won the Lambda Literary Award for his first novel, The Far Euphrates

Picker has various tics which disappear when he's composing, playing the piano, or conducting. He has said, "I live my life controlled by Tourette's...but I use music to control it. I have harnessed its energy—I play with it, manipulate it, trick it, mimic it, taunt it, explore it, exploit it, in every possible way."

Picker composed his first ballet, Awakenings (2010), inspired by the novel by Dr. Oliver Sacks and commissioned by the Rambert Dance Company. The piece was premiered by Rambert in Salford, UK in September 2010. Rambert toured the work around the UK with over 50 performances in the 2010-11 season.

Picker has also composed numerous chamber works. In 2009, the American String Quartet commissioned and premiered his String Quartet No. 2 at Merkin Concert Hall in New York. In that same year, the pianist Ursula Oppens premiered Picker's Four Etudes for Ursula and Three Nocturnes for Ursula at Baisly Powell Elebash Recital Hall, also in New York. In 2011, Picker was featured in a Miller Theatre Composer Portrait Concert, featuring the Signal Ensemble, Sarah Rothenberg, and the Brentano String Quartet, who premiered his Piano Quintet "Live Oaks".

Picker was born in New York City. He began composing at the age of eight, and studied at the Juilliard School in his youth; he later attended the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Charles Wuorinen and John Corigliano. He returned to the Juilliard School to earn his Master's in Music, and also pursued further studies at Princeton University with Milton Babbitt. By the age of thirty, Picker had been recognized with numerous awards, including the Joseph H. Bearns Prize (Columbia University), a Charles Ives Scholarship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1992, he received the Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, where he was later elected to lifetime membership in 2012.

Picker composed his first song in 1984; throughout the early 1990s, he continued to compose music for voice. In 1994, Picker composed his first opera, Emmeline, commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera, with a libretto by J.D. McClatchy. Since then, he has written numerous celebrated operas, including Fantastic Mr. Fox, Thérèse Raquin, An American Tragedy, and Dolores Claiborne. In 2010, Picker composed his first ballet, Awakenings, for the Rambert Dance Company, inspired by the work of Oliver Sacks. Picker was appointed artistic director of Tulsa Opera in 2016.

Picker began composing music at an early age, and was quickly commissioned to compose new works, such as "Sextet No. 3", commissioned by Speculum Musicae and premiered at Alice Tully Hall in 1977. In the 1980s, Picker continued to compose instrumental music, and was appointed the first composer-in-residence of the Houston Symphony from 1985-1990. Picker has served as composer-in-residence for such major international festivals as the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Pacific Music Festival.

Tobias Picker (born July 18, 1954) is an American composer noted for his numerous works for the stage, including several operas, in addition to works for orchestra and chamber orchestra.