Keys To The City (orchestral work)

Keys To The City (orchestral work)
by Tobias Picker
Chromolithograph of the Brooklyn Bridge
Genre	Modernist
Occasion	100th Anniversary of The Brooklyn Bridge
Commissioned by	Brooklyn Bridge Centennial Commission
Composed	1983 (1983)
Performed	May 24, 1983 (1983-05-24): Brooklyn Bridge
Movements	1

Keys To The City is a one-movement orchestral concerto for piano and orchestra written by the American composer Tobias Picker for the Brooklyn Bridge Centennial. ^[1]

Commission and history

Picker, at the time in his late twenties, received a commission from The Brooklyn Bridge Centennial Commission to compose a work for the bridge's centennial. ^{[2] [3]} To prepare, Picker said: ^[4]

I read Hart Crane and McCullough's "The Great Bridge." I studied its history. Visiting the bridge at different times of day and night, I observed its structure, its content and its context. I watched the light play through cables composed of billions of strands of streel. I listened from the foot bridge to the whine of the cars below. I studied paintings, poems, and songs which had been made in tribute to the bridge over the years. I even gave a champagne party for my friends on it one starry midnight. And I composed furiously.

Keys To The City premiered on May 24, 1983, at the Fulton Ferry Landing underneath Brooklyn Bridge. ^[5]

References

1. Maurice Edwards, How Music Grew in Brooklyn: A Biography of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2006), p. 143. ISBN   9780810856660
2. Haberman, Clyde (October 5, 1982). "New York Day By Day". The New York Times. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
3. Page, Tim (May 25, 1983). "A Concerto To The Beat Of The City". The New York Times. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
4. "Keys To The City - Tobias Pickeer". tobiaspicker.com. August 1, 2020. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
5. Carmody, Deirdre (May 24, 1983). "Brooklyn Bridge, 'The Only Bridge of Power, Life, And Joy,' Turns 100; Today". The New York Times. Retrieved September 19, 2020.