Composers
Avner Dorman
© r r jones
Born: 1975
Brief Biography:
Avner Dorman has quickly risen to become one of the leading composers of his generation. Dorman's unique approach to rhythm and timbre has attracted some of the world's most notable conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Riccardo Chailly, David Robertson, Andris Nelsons, Marin Alsop, and Justin Brown to bring his music to audiences of the New York Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, the San Francisco Symphony, the Musikverein, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony, Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, Cabrillo Music Festival, and others. Dorman's music achieves a rare combination of rigorous compositional construction while preserving the sense of excitement and spontaneity usually associated with Jazz, Rock, or Ethnic Music. Dorman's percussion concerti, Spices, Perfumes, Toxins! and Frozen in Time, are quickly becoming staples of the repertoire. They are performed and studied around the world.
For a complete biography, click here.
Key Works:
- Variations Without a Theme
(2001-03; orchestra)
- Sonata for Violin and Piano
(2004; violin, piano)
- Spices, Perfumes, Toxins!
(2006; two percussion, orchestra)
- Frozen in Time
(2007; percussion, orchestra)
- Lost Souls
(2009; piano, orchestra)
- Uriah
(2009; orchestra)
- (not) The Shadow (not after Hans Christian Andersen)
(2010; orchestra)
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Career Highlights:
- 2006 Breakthrough premiere of Spices, Perfumes, Toxins! with Zubin Mehta, PercaDu and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
- 2007-11 Frozen in Time premiered and subsequently toured internationally by percussionist Martin Grubinger
- 2010-11 World premieres by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; Marin Symphony; Gil Shaham and Orli Shaham; and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
- 2010 Composer-In-Residence with the Alabama Symphony featuring the world premieres of his Saxophone Concerto with Joshua Redman and a newly composed orchestral work
- 2010-11 NAXOS recording of Avi Avital and the Metropolis ensemble performing Dorman's Mandolin Concert is nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Solo with an Orchestra
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Critical Acclaim: …a fresh, young voice, worth following.
— Gramophone Magazine
Anyone who thinks classical music is in a creative slump has clearly never heard the work of Avner Dorman.
— The Nashville Scene
Mr. Dorman…writes in an eclectic, essentially neo-Romantic style that combines striking melodies, free dissonance and occasional effects (tapping on the instruments for example) to create picturesque textures.
— The New York Times
Full Biography:
"Avner Dorman leaves a strong mark in the Israeli music scene here and now. His music is the most original, unique, and of the highest quality to have been played by our orchestras in the past season. Dorman is a contemporary Israeli composer that grew up in a musical family and was enchanted by all the sounds of musical space around him — of both concert and popular music. His works today demonstrate his personal statement within the realm of these influences, which serve as aesthetic models rather than a source for imitation." — Ora Binur, Ma'ariv Newspaper Praised as a "fresh, young voice, worth following" (Gramophone Magazine), Avner Dorman has quickly risen to become one of Israel's most successful and renowned composers. At the age of 25, he became the youngest composer to win Israel's prestigious Prime Minister's Award for his Ellef, and that same year he was awarded the Golden Feather Award from ACUM (the Israeli Society of Composers and Publishers). Since coming to the United States, Dorman has received several international awards from ASCAP, ACUM, and the Asian Composers League.
Dorman's unique approach to rhythm and timbre has attracted some of the world's leading conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Asher Fisch, Simone Young, David Robertson, and Michael Stern to bring his music to audiences of the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Vienna Radio Symphony at the Musikverein, the Hamburg Philharmonic, the Cabrillo Music Festival, and others.
Dorman's music achieves a rare combination of rigorous compositional construction while preserving the sense of excitement and spontaneity usually associated with Jazz, Rock, or Ethnic Music. In Variations Without a Theme, "Dorman dispenses with a traditional theme and instead bases his entire 20-minute work on just a few musical odds and ends — a repeated note, an ornament, a few Arab-flavored scales and a half-step interval. It's all amazingly simple, but the end result is sophisticated music that cleverly explores both Eastern and Western sonic worlds" (John Pitcher, The Nashville Scene).
Masterful in his innovative use of percussion, Dorman's two percussion concerti are quickly becoming staples of the repertoire. Zubin Mehta led the premiere of his double percussion concerto, Spices, Perfumes, Toxins!, with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and subsequently performed it with the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra. Mehta presented the much-anticipated U.S. premiere of this piece with the New York Philharmonic and PercaDu in March 2009. Dorman's percussion concerto, Frozen in Time, tore audiences from their seats in an overwhelming standing ovation at the Hamburg Philharmonic's world premiere, with Martin Grubinger as percussion soloist. Following numerous successful performances, Grubinger gave the U.S. premiere of Frozen in Time with the Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern in April 2011. Dorman has made significant contributions to the repertoire of other unique instruments and ensembles with his Mandolin Concerto, Piccolo Concerto, Concerto for Violin and a Rock Band, and Saxophone Concerto which receives its world premiere in October 2010 with Joshua Redman, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and music director Justin Brown.
Through his residency work with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Camerata, Dorman honed his skills as both concert programmer and advocate for new music. His involvement in outreach during residencies proved a very rewarding experience for the composer.
A pianist himself and an avid devotee of chamber music, Dorman has composed two string quartets, two violin sonatas, a piano and woodwind quintet titled Jerusalem Mix (commissioned by the Jerusalem International Music Festival and the Chicago Chamber Musicians), two Piano Trios, and numerous works for piano solo. In 2005, Naxos released a recording of Eliran Avni performing Dorman's piano works and in 2009 released a disc featuring four of Dorman’s chamber concerti to wide acclaim. Avi Avital's performance of Dorman's Mandolin Concerto on this disc was nominated for in the category of Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra for the 2010 Grammy's.
Born in 1975, Avner Dorman completed his Doctoral degree as a C.V. Starr fellow at The Juilliard School, where he studied with John Corigliano, and his Master's degree at Tel Aviv University, where he majored in music, musicology, and physics, and studied with former Soviet composer Josef Bardanashvili. Dorman was a composition fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and served as composer in residence for the Israel Camerata from 2001 through 2003.
Avner Dorman's music is published exclusively by G. Schirmer, Inc.
— September 2012
For specific inquiries about this composer, please contact Katy Tucker at katy.tucker(at)schirmer.com or (212) 254-2100 ext. 134.
External Websites
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