Avner Dorman

Avner Dorman (born April 14, 1975 in Tel Aviv, Israel) is an Israeli born composer of contemporary classical music.

Biography

Avner Dorman holds a Doctorate in Music Composition from the Juilliard School where he studied as a C.V. Starr fellow with John Corigliano^[1]. He completed his Master’s degree at Tel Aviv University (where he majored in music, musicology, and physics) studying with former Soviet composer Josef Bardanashvili.^[2]

At age 25, Avner Dorman became the youngest composer to ever win Israel's prestigious Prime-Minister's award. Since, he has been awarded the "ACUM" prize from the Israeli performing rights society for his Ellef Symphony.^[3]Ma’ariv, the second largest newspaper in Israel, named Dorman “Composer of the Year” for 2002, and the performance of his song cycle Boaz received the Israeli Cultural Ministry Prize for best performance of Israeli music the same year. Dorman’s Variations Without a Theme, premiered by Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2003, won the 2004 Best Composition of the Year award from ACUM. This piece led to a commission from Zubin Mehta, PercaDu, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for Spices, Perfumes, Toxins! , a concerto for percussion duo and orchestra. Avner Dorman's music is published by G. Schirmer

Prominent orchestras that have performed Avner Dorman's music include the New York Philharmonic Orchestra^[4] the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra^[5] , the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In 2006 Naxos Records released an album dedicated to Avner Dorman's piano works with Eliran Avni at the piano to critical acclaim. Ken Smith of the Gramophone Magazine wrote that “Dorman is not just a fresh, young voice, worth following. He’s also a composer whose music, particularly as rendered here by pianist Eliran Avni (for whom several of these works were written), fits well on the instrument and resonates strongly with the musical tradition at large.”

Dorman is a Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation (IcExcellence) chosen artist since 2008, which is one of Israel's highest recognition for excellence in the arts.

Compositions

Works for Symphonic Orchestra

• Lost Souls, a Piano Concerto (2009, premiered by Alon Goldstein and the Kansas City Symphony conducted by Michael Stern)
• Violin Concerto (2006, premiered by Ittai Shappira and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra)
• Variations Without A Theme (2003, premiered by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta)
• Ellef Symphony (2000)

Concertos for Chamber Orchestra

• Concerto Grosso (2003)
• Concerto in A (1995)
• Mandolin Concerto (2006)
• Piccolo Concerto (2001)
• Saxophone Concerto (2003)

Music for Film and Dance

• Impact (2006)
• "Falafel" (2001)
• Accord/Discord (1999)
• Ben (1997)

Chamber Music

• Prayer for the Innocents for two string quartets (2009, commissioned by Keshet Eilon Masterclasses)
• Sonata No.2 for Violin and Piano (2008, commissioned by Sayaka Shoji)
• Jerusalem Mix (2007 commissioned by the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival and the Chicago Chamber Musicians)
• String Quartet No.2 (2004)
• Sonata No.1 for Violin and Piano (2004)
• String Quartet No.1 (2003)
• Trio (2001)
• Tree-yO! (1996)

Piano Solo

• Nocturne Insomniaque (2007)
• Azerbaijani Dance (2005)
• Sonata No.3 / Dance Suite (2005)
• Moments Musicaux (2003)
• Piano Sonata No.2 (2000)
• Piano Sonata No.1 (1999)
• Prelude No.1 (1992)

Concertos for Percussion

• Spices, Perfumes, Toxins! (2006 premiered April 2,4,6 2006 by PercaDu and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta)
• "Frozen in Time" (2007 premiered December 2,3 2007 by Martin Grubinger and the Hamburg Philharmonic conducted by Simone Young)

Vocal

• Psalm 67 (2004)
• Boaz (2002)
• The fear of men (2006), after two poems by Ronen Altman Kaydar

External links

• Avner Dorman biography at G. Schirmer
• Avner Dorman's Website
• Avner Dorman's MySpace Page
• Information about Avner Dorman on the New York Philharmonic Website

References

• Official biography on the G. Schirmer website, above
• Official biography from his personal site, above

1. ^ Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2009, Ng, "Composer Avner Dorman spices things up"
2. ^ Jerusalem Post, Feb 23, 2001, Zehavi, "Rock-music 'Brat' moves on
3. ^ Jerusalem Post, Feb 23, 2001, Zehavi, "Rock-music 'Brat' moves on
4. ^ New York Times, March 19, 2009, Schweitzer, "Concerto for Percussion, With a Global Outlook"
5. ^ Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2009, Ng, "Composer Avner Dorman spices things up"