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Lera Auerbach (Russian: Лера Авербах, full name Valeria Lvovna Auerbach, Russian: Валерия Львовна Авербах; 21 October 1973 in Chelyabinsk, Russia) is a Russian-born composer of the 21st century.
[edit] Early Life & Education
Auerbach was born in Chelyabinsk, a city in the Urals bordering Siberia. She holds degrees in piano and composition from The Juilliard School, where she studied piano with Joseph Kalichstein and composition with Milton Babbitt. She also graduated from the piano soloist program of the Hannover Hochschule für Musik.
[edit] Composition
Auerbach's compositions have been commissioned and performed by a wide array of artists, orchestras and ballet companies including Gidon Kremer, the Kremerata Baltica, David Finckel, Wu Han, Vadim Gluzman, the Tokyo, Kuss, Parker and Petersen String Quartets, the SWR and NDR (Hannover) Symphony Orchestras, NDR Hamburg and the Royal Danish Ballet. Auerbach’s music has also been commissioned and performed by leading Festivals throughout the world including Caramoor, Lucerne, Lockenhaus, Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein.
A new commission by The Royal Danish Ballet, to celebrate Hans Christian Andersen's bicentenary, was Lera Auerbach's second collaboration with choreographer John Neumeier. The ballet is a modern rendition of the classic fairy tale 'The Little Mermaid' and was premiered successfully in April 2005 at the then newly-opened Copenhagen Opera House.[1]
Her Double Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra, Op. 40, was written in 1997, but not premiered until December 15, 2006, in Stuttgart, Germany by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrey Boreyko; the soloists were violinist Vadim Gluzman and pianist Angela Yoffe. The American premiere was on February 13, 2010, by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Andrew Constantine; the soloists were violinist Jennifer Koh and pianist Benjamin Hochman.[2]
[edit] Performance
Auerbach made her Carnegie Hall debut in May 2002, performing her own Suite for Violin, Piano and Orchestra with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica. Her music has been presented at Carnegie Hall each season since then.[3]
Auerbach has appeared as solo pianist at such venues as the Bolshoi Saal of the Moscow Conservatory, Tokyo's Opera City, New York's Lincoln Center, Munich's Herkulessaal, Oslo's Konzerthaus, Chicago's Symphony Hall and Washington's Kennedy Center.
[edit] Awards & Recognition
In 2005 Auerbach received the Paul Hindemith Prize from the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.[4] In the same year she received the Förderpreis Deutschlandfunk and the Bremer Musikfest Prize; she is currently composer in residence at Bremer. In 2007, her Symphony No. 1 "Chimera" received its world premiere by the Düsseldorf Symphony. Other 2007 premieres included Symphony No. 2 "Requiem for a Poet" by Hannover's NDR Radio Philharmonic, as well as A Russian Requiem by the Bremen Philharmonic with the Latvian National Choir and the Estonian Opera Boys Choir.
Auerbach is also a writer. She has published six volumes of poetry and prose in Russian.[citation needed] In 2007, she was selected as a member of the forum of Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
[edit] Recordings
- 24 Preludes (BIS 2003)
- Tolstoy's Waltz (BIS 2004)
- Auerbach plays Mozart (ARABESQUE 2005)
- Ballet for a Lonely Violinist (BIS 2005)
- Preludes and Dreams (BIS 2006)
- Cetera Desunt, String Quartet No. 3 (CAPRICCIO 2006)
- Flight and Fire (PROFIL - Hänssler Classics 2007)
[edit] External links
- ^ Jerry Bowles: "The Total Package", Sequenza 21, Wednesday, August 10, 2005 http://www.sequenza21.com/2005/08/lera-auerbach-total-package.html
- ^ Prelude February/March 2010 (Fort Wayne: Keefer Printing Company, 2010)
- ^ Carnegie Hall Schedule Publications 05.01.2002 Suite for Violin, Piano and Orchestra (Gidon Kremer, violin; Lera Auerbach, piano and Kremerata Baltica) 10.07.2003 Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 (Philippe Quint Violin, Adam Neiman, Piano) 2004 20.02.2004 Sonata for Solo Cello (Christophor Miroshnikov, cello) 04.01.2005 Dreams and Whispers of Poseidon - (American Youth Symphony) 2006 Trio for Violin Piano and Orchestra (Clavier Trio) 03.11.2007 Oskolki for Violin and Piano (Borok-Ponochevny Duo)
- ^ http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=4329