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Enid Alvarez/New York Daily News
Nico Muhly at Lincoln Center. His opera “Two Boys” premieres at the Met on Monday.
New York composer Nico Muhly knows an insanely busy schedule when he sees one — especially when it’s his.
Which explains a telling entry on his blog: “So, this fall is gonna be crazy.”
Tomorrow, Muhly makes his debut at the Metropolitan Opera with the cyber-saga “Two Boys.” On Broadway, his music is already an integral part of “The Glass Menagerie.” And at cineplexes, his score accompanies the Daniel Radcliffe movie “Kill Your Darlings.”
Does Muhly ever sleep? “Everything’s under control,” he assures. “What’s happening at this moment is the result of hard work that’s already been done.”
He pauses, then adds, “Well, it’s mostly done.”
Daniel Radcliffe as a young Allen Ginsberg in “Kill Your Darlings.” Nico Muhly wrote the film’s score.
Still on his to-do list as of last week was a short composition for “The Day Before,” running Nov. 8 at Symphony Space. The one-night multimedia event involves artists reflecting on life in America on the eve of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. “I’ve gotta get to that,” he says.
Bottom line: At 32, Muhly is everywhere — a music man in great demand.
Born in Vermont, raised in Rhode Island and a New Yorker since his 18th birthday, Muhly has been steadily rising since graduating from the joint Columbia/Juilliard program in 2003.
Over the past decade, he has collaborated with Philip Glass, Bjork and Grizzly Bear, an indie rock band from Brooklyn. He has written scores for movies, including “Margaret” and “The Reader,” and the opera “Dark Sisters.”
His music, whether it’s pop, film score or opera, has been praised for its emotional content and thoughtfulness.
Michael J. Lutch
“The Glass Menagerie,” at the Booth Theatre, includes music by Nico Muhly.
Ask “Menagerie” director John Tiffany. “I’ve been a fan of Nico’s music for a while now,” he says. “I love how eclectic he is. His film soundtracks have an ethereal, fragile quality and that’s what I wanted to bring to the production of ‘The Glass Menagerie.’ ”
“It’s all wildly exciting,” Muhly admits. “Despite all this random stuff coming at once, I’m very unambitious. But I’m also very practical about the task at hand.
“I’ve actively tried to resist the idea of the composer as the inscrutable genius. You know, the image of a guy who grows a beard and lives in the woods.”
The clean-shaven Muhly lives in Chinatown with his boyfriend, Ben Wyskida, a publicist. “It’s half of a floor of an old tenement,” he says. It’s where “Two Boys” — a work that made him the youngest composer ever commissioned by the Met — made its first sounds of life.
