Michael Torke, born September 22, 1961, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is an American composer known for his jazz and minimalism-influenced work. He studied at the Eastman School of Music and Yale University. Early compositions include Vanada (1984) and Four Proverbs. His breakthrough piece was Javelin, composed in 1994 for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to celebrate their 50th anniversary and the 1996 Summer Olympics. Notable works also include Four Seasons, commissioned by Disney, and The Contract, a ballet choreographed by James Kudelka in 2002. In 2003, he founded Ecstatic Records. His opera Pop'pea, an operatic-rock adaptation of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet on May 29, 2012. Torke won the Independent Music Awards in 2012 for his album Tahiti (2011).
