Anthony Gatto

His opera Wise Blood, based on the novel Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor, premiered in June 2015 in collaboration with Minnesota-based media artist Chris Larson. With a cross-media libretto written by Gatto after the novel by Flannery O'Connor, the immersive opera exhibition was co-commissioned and co-presented by the Walker Art Center and The Soap Factory.

See several excerpts and the full video of the Minneapolis 2015 performances of the opera Wise Blood here.

Gatto's opera, The Making of Americans, based on the novel by Gertrude Stein, was commissioned by the Walker Art Center and premiered in two sold-out shows in December 2008. In 2020, American Experience Recordings released a radio opera version of The Making of Americans, based on 2019 revisions to the score and libretto by the composer.

Gatto holds music composition degrees from Yale University, Doctor of Musical Arts 2001, University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from Grinnell College. He was a private student of Ornette Coleman from 1986-88. His other teachers include Jacob Druckman, Martin Bresnick, Ezra Laderman, Lukas Foss, Donald Grantham, Dan Welcher, and Béla Bartók scholar Elliott Antokoletz. Anthony Gatto is an Associate Professor of Music at City University of New York.

Anthony Gatto (born December 3, 1962 in Brooklyn, New York), is an American composer of music for theater, dance, film, opera, and concert music. He is also the founder of The Festival Dancing in Your Head, held at the Walker Art Center, dedicated to the music, ideas, and influences of Ornette Coleman.