King of Prussia, PA – Theodore Presser Company is pleased to release the piano/vocal score of Ricky Ian Gordon's The Tibetan Book of the Dead (411-41140 � Score � $70.00). Based on Jean-Claude van Itallie's play after the Buddhist teachings of the same name, The Tibetan Book of The Dead leads us through the stages we experience after death and our transition into the next life. The score includes Gordon's remembrance of the heartbreaking environment in which the opera came into being.

It is at once a ritual, an oratorio in 17 set numbers, a requiem, a warning, and a theatrically-staged wake. The 8 characters include a Baritone ("The Reader" leading the journey towards death, enlightenment, or rebirth), a Soprano (first as "The Dying," then as "The Dead") and another soprano, two mezzos, two tenors, and a bass, who play the various energies, demons, temptations, memories, and deities.

The piano/vocal score of The Tibetan Book of the Dead is now available through Theodore Presser Company or your favorite music retailer. Performance materials are available on rental.

Ricky Ian Gordon was born on May 15, 1956 in Oceanside, NY and raised on Long Island. After studying composition at Carnegie Mellon University, he settled in New York City, where he quickly emerged as a leading writer of vocal music that spans art song, opera, and musical theater. Mr. Gordon's songs have been performed and/or recorded by such internationally renowned singers as Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Audra MacDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Frederica Von Stade, Andrea Marcovicci, Harolyn Blackwell, and Betty Buckley, among many others. For more information about Mr. Gordon, please see our Composer Gallery or his website.

Offering music by today�s greatest composers and teachers, Theodore Presser Company is the oldest continuing music publisher in the United States, dedicated to carrying out the aims and goals its founder established more than a century ago: service, with integrity, to music and musicians, commitment to quality, and a vision for the future. Theodore Presser Company is a full-range music publisher that also distributes the works of more than 70 American and foreign publishers, with a combined sales catalog that features over 60,000 titles.

For more information about Theodore Presser Company, log on to www.presser.com, or contact Elizabeth Holub, [email protected] or call (212) 777-0900 ext 230.