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Creator
Strilko, Anthony
Call number
JPB 06-63
Physical description
20 linear feet. (43 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Anthony Strilko Papers, JPB 06-63. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Anthony Strilko was a noted American composer who worked primarily in song cycles and sacred music. His collection contains correspondence, programs, clippings, and primarily scores, both final and rough drafts.

Biographical/historical information

Anthony Strilko was born on July 4, 1931 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When Strilko was in his teens, he moved to Manhattan to attend Julliard, where he eventually earned a B.S. and M.S. in Composition. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship which enabled him to attend the Paris Conservatory. While in Paris he studied with Darius Milhaud. Strilko received many awards in his youth, including a Fromm Foundation Award, an Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Prize, and the Joseph H. Bearns Prize from Columbia University. In a New York Times survey of prominent composers in 1957, Strilko was declared a “young hopeful”. Over the course of his career, he composed hundreds of works, primarily consisting of chamber music and sacred and secular choral works. Over the years, Strilko’s compositions were performed in Damrosch Park, the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall. In addition to composing, Strilko directed Apollo Music Services, a music preparation company that provided editing and copyist services for composers. His clients included Leonard Bernstein, Elliot Carter, and David Diamond. He was also the musical coordinator to the Rebekah Harkness Foundation, William Schuman, and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Strilko was interested in the spiritualist movement, and composed several works for spiritualist Christian churches. He died on June 22, 2000 at the age of 68 as a result of lung cancer.

Scope and arrangement

The Anthony Strilko Papers contain documents from 1950-1991. The collection primarily consists of Strilko’s scores, which include many drafts and revisions to each work. Strilko often used classical poetry as a basis for his compositions. His scores also include many sacred works commissioned for various churches across the country. He also enjoyed composing lengthy studies and song cycles, including his Verses series and his Experiment in Beauty. The bulk of his compositions date from his most prolific periods, between 1960 and 1970. Correspondence, programs, research, and business records are also represented within the collection, but there is little of a personal nature.

The Anthony Strilko papers are arranged in six series:

Administrative information

Processing information

Processed by Lea Jordan; Machine-readable finding aid created by Lea Jordan.

Using the collection

Location

Music Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Chief, Music Division.