Lowell Liebermann (born February 22, 1961 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and conductor.

Life and career

At the age of sixteen, Liebermann performed at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

, playing his Piano Sonata, op. 1. He studied at the Juilliard School of Music with David Diamond and

Vincent Persichetti Vincent Ludwig Persichetti (June 6, 1915 – August 14, 1987) was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, he was known for his integration of various new ideas in musical composition into his own wo ...

, earning bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. The English composer-pianist

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (born Leon Dudley Sorabji; 14 August 1892 – 15 October 1988) was an English composer, music critic, pianist and writer whose music, written over a period of seventy years, ranges from sets of miniatures to wor ...

also expressed interest in Liebermann's early work, having critiqued the young composer's Piano Sonata in a private exchange between the two; Liebermann's Concerto for Piano, op. 12 would be dedicated to Sorabji. His most recorded works are his Sonata for Flute and Piano (1987), '' Gargoyles'' for piano (1989), and his Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (1992). Other notable works include a sonata for flute and guitar (1988), five cello sonatas (most recently 2019) the second piano concerto (1992), the

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical '' Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''The Picture of Dorian G ...

'' (1996), a second symphony (2000), a trumpet concerto (2000), a violin concerto (2001), ''Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini'' for piano and orchestra (2001), and the

''Miss Lonelyhearts'' (2006) which was commissioned as part of the festivities surrounding the centennial of the Juilliard School. He was also commissioned by the

Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation The Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation is an American classical music organization, based in Miami, Florida. Throughout the years, its mission was to introduce, to educate and to invite the widest possible audience to the world of music, wi ...

to compose "Three Lullabies" for two pianos. Liebermann has also written the music for the ballet ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

'', a co-production between The Royal Ballet and San Francisco Ballet (2016). His music combines elements of traditional tonality and structure with more adventurous harmonies. Liebermann's music is often highly polytonal and Liebermann explores different bitonal possibilities in many of his pieces. His Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra, Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, and Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra have been recorded by

James Galway Sir James Galway (born 8 December 1939) is an Irish virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute". He established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outsta ...

. American clarinetist

Jon Manasse Jon Manasse is an American clarinetist. Manasse studied clarinet at the Juilliard School under David Weber. He won a prize in the International Competition for Clarinet in Munich and was the youngest winner of the International Clarinet Society Co ...

premiered his Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (2009) with The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Neal Gittleman. Liebermann resides in New York City. He presently serves on the composition faculty at

Mannes College The New School for Music Mannes School of Music is a music conservatory in The New School, a private research university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School ca ...

and is the director of the Mannes American Composers Ensemble.The New School (undated)
Lowell Liebermann faculty profile at Mannes College The New School for Music
Accessed 24 December 2012.

References

Sources

* Cantrell, Scott (10 July 2005)
On the Outside Looking In: Gay Composers Gave America Its Music
Dallas Morning News, reprinted in Andante. * Time Magazine (30 November 1998)

Accessed 16 February 2010. * Time Magazine (6 March 2000)

Accessed 16 February 2010. * US Opera (undated)

Accessed 14 August 2013. * Roberge, Marc-André (2013)

Québec: self-published.

External links

Lowell Liebermann website

Lowell Liebermann's page at Theodore Presser Company

August 15, 1998
Dayton Philharmonic's Classical Series Program Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liebermann, Lowell 1961 births 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century classical composers 21st-century LGBT people American classical composers American male classical composers Classical musicians from New York (state) Composers for carillon Composers from New York City LGBT classical composers American LGBT musicians LGBT people from New York (state) Living people Musicians from New York City Pupils of David Diamond (composer) Pupils of Vincent Persichetti