A graduate of the New England Conservatory, Henry Mollicone (b. 1946) has studied composition with Donald Martino, Ron Nelson, Daniel Pinkham, Gunther Schuller, and Seymour Schifrin. He is currently a professor at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA, and at West Valley College in Saratoga, CA.
His one-act operas, Emperor Norton, Starbird, The Face on the Barroom Floor, and The Mask of Evil, commissioned by the Central City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, and The Minnesota Opera, have been performed extensively. The Face on the Barroom Floor, a recipient of the American Composers' Recording Award, is one of America 's most oft-performed contemporary operas, and has also been produced in Europe. His full-length opera Coyote Tales (libretto by Sheldon Harnick), commissioned by the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, was premiered there in March, 1998, and is available on CD (Newport Classic). His full-length opera Hotel Eden was premiered at Opera San Jose in 1989, and has since been produced in New York and Baltimore.
Mr. Mollicone has been a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow since 1997, and has served on panels for The National Endowment for the Arts. He is associate director of the Ernest Bloch Music Festival in Oregon, and director of its composers' symposium. His opera Gabriel's Daughter (libretto by William Luce) was premiered in July 2003 at the Central City Opera.
Mr. Mollicone has written works for orchestra, voice, chorus, ballet, and solo voice, as well as music for film, television, and theater, including the Guthrie Theater ( Minneapolis ). He has worked with several distinguished actors as a conductor, composer, and pianist, including Jean Stapleton, David Ogden Stiers, Tovah Feldshuh, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Angela Lansbury. Orchestral works include Celestial Dance (commissioned by the Long Beach Symphony), Inner Light, the overture Kathy's White Knight, A Rat's Tale: The Pied Piper Revisited, in collaboration with the playwright, William Luce, premiered by Charles Nelson Reilly, In Time of War; Prayers and Meditations, and Dansa Trimbula. His works have been performed by many distinguished artists, including JoAnn Falletta, Frederica Von Stade, Amy Burton, Music from Copland House Players, Erie Mills, Maria Spacagna, D'Anna Fortunato and Marnie Breckenridge.
