Michael Nathaniel Hersch (born June 25, 1971) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Biography

Early life and musical education

Born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and raised in

Reston, Virginia Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia and a principal city of the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Reston's population was 63,226. Founded in 1964, Reston was influenced by the Garden City movem ...

, Hersch was introduced to classical music at the age of 18 by his younger brother Jamie, who showed him a videotape of

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...

conducting Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. He began his studies at the

Peabody Conservatory of Music The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, The Johns Hopkins University is a Private university, private music school, conservatory and College-preparatory school, preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and ...

in Baltimore. In 1995 Hersch studied at the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

, where he worked with

Albert Leman Albert Semionovich Leman (surname sometimes spelt Lehman in English) (, Volsk, – 3 December 1998, Moscow) was a Soviet composer of classical music. Albert Leman received his music education in the Leningrad Conservatory under Mikhail Gnessin a ...

and Roman Ledenev. That same year he also worked with

John Corigliano John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, an ...

John Harbison John Harris Harbison (born December 20, 1938) is an American composer, known for his symphonies, operas, and large choral works. Life John Harris Harbison was born on December 20, 1938, in Orange, New Jersey, to the historian Elmore Harris Harb ...

, and

George Rochberg George Rochberg (July 5, 1918May 29, 2005) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Long a serial composer, Rochberg abandoned the practice following the death of his teenage son in 1964; he claimed this compositional technique ...

at a program for young composers. Hersch then returned to Peabody for graduate studies, where he currently serves as Chair of the composition department.

Early recognition

His first success came when

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop ( �mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...

selected Hersch's ''Elegy'' as winner of the American Composers Prize, and conducted it at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

in New York in 1997. That year also saw Hersch awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in Music Composition. He has also been a fellow at the

Tanglewood Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

, where he studied under Christopher Rouse, the Norfolk Festival for Contemporary Music, and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. In 2000, Hersch was awarded the Rome Prize, in 2001 the Berlin Prize. While in Europe Hersch worked with

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...

and

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...

. Other honors include the Charles Ives Scholarship (1996) and the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship (2006) from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. Hersch's earliest recordings appeared on the

Vanguard Classics Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

label, the first released in 2003, with performances by the composer and the String Soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic. This was followed by two other Vanguard discs. The second, with Hersch performing his own work in addition to music of

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...

Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Sa ...

, and

Josquin des Prez Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the ...

, was selected by

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

and Newsday as among the notable recordings of 2004-05. In 2007, Hersch's multi-hour piano cycle, ''The Vanishing Pavilions'' (2005), with the composer at the keyboard was released. David Patrick Stearns of

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

wrote on the October 14, 2006 premiere of the work given by the composer.

Music

Described by

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

as "viscerally gripping and emotionally transformative music … claustrophobic and exhilarating at once, with moments of sublime beauty nestled inside thickets of dark virtuosity", Hersch's work "marries a volcanic New World energy to a deeply skeptical, often angst-ridden spiritual climate." (Andrew Clark,

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

) In 2014, Hersch's first work for the stage, ''On the Threshold of Winter'' (2012), premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Fishman Space by the NUNC ensemble (Miranda Cuckson, director) with Ah Young Hong as the soloist. The opera, about terminal illness, is a reaction to the passing of one of Hersch's closest friends in 2009, as well as the composer's own diagnosis of cancer several years earlier. Its text comes from the deathbed poems of Romanian writer

Marin Sorescu Marin Sorescu (; 29 February 1936 – 8 December 1996) was a Romanian poet, playwright, and novelist. His works were translated into more than 20 countries, and the total number of his books that were published abroad rises up to 60 books. He ha ...

. In recent years, a frequent collaborator has been violinist

Patricia Kopatchinskaja Patricia Kopatchinskaja (born March 1977) is a Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist. Biography Early life Kopatchinskaja was born in Chișinău, in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Moldova). She comes from a family of musicians. H ...

. The violinist has commissioned several works from Hersch, including his Violin Concerto, which she premiered with the

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is a full-time professional chamber orchestra based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In collaboration with five Artistic Partners, the orchestra's musicians present more than 130 concerts and educational programs ea ...

in 2015. It was recently announced that he will be writing a new work for her in 2018-19 to be premiered with

Camerata Bern Located in Bern, Switzerland, the Camerata Bern was founded in 1963 as a conductorless, flexible chamber orchestra. The Camerata Bern performs early Baroque to contemporary classical music. The group tours extensively worldwide and is releasing ...

. Other collaborations include those with Dutch contemporary music group

Ensemble Klang Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ensemble cast (drama, comedy) * Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the chorus * ''En ...

, violinist Miranda Cuckson, and the

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (founded 1972) is a classical music chamber orchestra based in New York City. They have won several Grammy Awards. The orchestra is known for its collaborative leadership style in which the musicians, not a conducto ...

. Hersch's more recent music has been characterized as increasingly "spare, intense, fiercely inward-turning."

Piano performance

A highly regarded pianist, Hersch has performed throughout the U.S. and internationally. Though he appears in public infrequently, he commands a wide repertoire from Josquin to Boulez. Since 2000, he has primarily focused on performances of his own music.

Selected works

;Orchestral *''Elegy'' for string orchestra (1993) *Symphony No. 1 (1998); commissioned and performed as part of the

Dallas Symphony Orchestra The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Dallas, Texas. Its principal performing venue is the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas. History The orchestra traces its origins to a ...

's centennial season, Alan Gilbert conducting *''Ashes of Memory'' (1999); premiered by the

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra The ''Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra'' (''PSO'') is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District, Pittsburgh, Cultural District. History The Pittsburgh Sy ...

Mariss Jansons Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons (14 January 1943 – 1 December 2019) was a Latvian conductor best known for his interpretations of Mahler, Strauss and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich. During his lifetime he was ...

conducting *Symphony No. 2 (2001); commission by the Pittsburgh Symphony and

*''Fracta'' (2002); commission by the Pittsburgh Symphony *''Variations on a Theme of Hugo Wolf'' for chamber orchestra (or full orchestra) (2004) *''Arraché'' (2004); commission by the

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it bega ...

*Symphony No. 3 (2009); commission by the

Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music is an annual Festival dedicated to contemporary symphonic music by living composers. The music director since 2017 has been Cristian Măcelaru. According to Jesse Rosen, CEO of the League of American Orc ...

*''end stages'' (2016) ;Concertante *Piano Concerto (2002); premiered by

Garrick Ohlsson Garrick Olof Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist. He is the only American to have won first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition, at the VIII competition in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Com ...

and a co-commission of the Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Oregon symphonies *''Night Pieces'' for trumpet and orchestra (2010) *''along the ravines'' for piano and orchestra (2010) *''a sheltered corner'' for horn and orchestra (2011) *''Black Untitled'' for trombone and ensemble (2013) *Violin Concerto (2015) ;Opera *''On the Threshold of Winter'' (2012) ;Chamber *Trio for violin, clarinet and piano (1995) *''Two Pieces'' for cello and piano (2000) *''Octet for Strings'' for 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos (2001); commission by

Boris Pergamenschikow Boris Mironowitsch Pergamenschikow, , (29 August 1948 in Leningrad – 30 April 2004 in Berlin), was a Russian-born cellist. His father was also a cellist, and gave his son his first lessons. In 1974, Boris Pergamenschikow won a gold medal at t ...

and the

Kronberg Academy The Kronberg Academy is an academy of chamber music based in Kronberg, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1993 by Raimund Trenkler, who has served since then as its chairman and artistic director. The academy's initial focus was on the cello and s ...

, premiered at the Schloss Neuhardenberg Festival in Berlin *''the wreckage of flowers: twenty-one pieces after poetry and prose of

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation ...

'', Sonata for violin and piano (2003); commission by

Midori Midori (みどり, ミドリ, , , ) is the Japanese word for "green" and may refer to: Places * Midori, Gunma * Midori-ku, Chiba * Midori-ku, Nagoya * Midori-ku, Sagamihara * Midori-ku, Saitama * Midori-ku, Yokohama People Given name * M ...

*''Variations on a Poem'' for piano, violin and cello (2003); commission by Sequenza *''Last Autumn'' for horn and cello (2008) *''Images from a Closed Ward'' for string quartet (2010), commissioned and then recorded by the Blair Quartet (2014) a revised version was recorded the

FLUX Quartet The FLUX Quartet is an American string quartet dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1998 and is based in New York City. The group is renowned for its performances of Morton Feldman's String Quartet No. ...

(2018) *''Zwischen Leben und Tod: twenty-two pieces after images by Peter Weiss'' for violin and piano (2013) *''Carrion-Miles to Purgatory: thirteen pieces after texts of

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects i ...

'' for violin and cello (2015); commission by Hans Kindler Foundation Trust Fund in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

;Solo instrumental *Sonata No.1 for unaccompanied cello (1994) *Sonata No. 2 for unaccompanied cello (2000); written for American cellist Daniel Gaisford *''Recordatio'' for piano (2003) *''Milosz Fragments'' for violin (2004) *''Five Fragments'' for violin (2004) *''The Vanishing Pavilions'' for piano (2005); work after poetry of Christopher Middleton *''Caelum Dedecoratum'' for double bass (2006); originally written for cello, then withdrawn, then adapted for double bass for bassist Jeffrey Weisner *''Fourteen Pieces'' for violin (2007) *''Tenebrae'' for piano (2010) *''in the snowy margins'' for violin (2010) *''Two Lullabies'' for piano (2011) *''of ages manifest'' for alto saxophone (2012) *''November Portrait'' for unaccompanied banjo (2012) *''Of Sorrow Born: Seven Elegies'' for violin (2014) *''the weather and landscape are on our side'' for violin (2015) ;Vocal *''Two Songs'' for soprano and piano (1993) *''Domicilium: a song cycle after poems of Thomas Hardy'' for baritone and piano (2010) *''How Far the Cradle'' for soprano and piano (2012) *''a breath upwards'' for soprano, clarinet, horn, and viola (2014) *''a tower in air'' for soprano and horn (2015) *''cortex and ankle'' for soprano and ensemble (2016) *''I hope we get a chance to visit soon'' for two sopranos and ensemble (2018) *''anonymous beneath the lemon trees'' for soprano and ensemble (2020) ;Choral *''From Ecclesiastes'' for unaccompanied mixed chorus (1997)

Audio recording

''the wreckage of flowers'' - Works for Violin *Label:

(MC-105) *Miranda Cuckson, violin; Blair McMillen, piano *Release Date: 2010 *includes ''Five Fragments'', ''Fourteen Pieces after texts of Primo Levi'', and ''the wreckage of flowers: 21 pieces after poetry and prose of Czeslaw Milosz'' Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 for Unaccompanied Cello *Label: Vanguard Classics (MCS-CD-104) *Daniel Gaisford, cello *Release Date: 2009 *Review: by Vivien Schweitzer in ''

'' The Vanishing Pavilions *Label: Vanguard Classics / Musical Concepts (MC-101) -CD Box Set*Michael Hersch, piano *Release Date: 2007 *Review: by Steve Hicken in sequenza21 Chamber Music *Label: Vanguard Classics (ATM-CD-1240) *String Soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic; Michael Hersch, piano *Release Date: 2003 *Review: by Andrew Druckenbrod in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Hersch – Josquin – Rihm – Feldman *Label: Vanguard Classics (ATM-CD-1558) *Michael Hersch, piano; Daniel Gaisford, cello *Release Date: 2004 *Review: by Tim Page in The Washington Post Orchestral Works *Label:

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abr ...

8.559281 *Marin Alsop/Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra *Release Date: 2006 *Review: by Andrew Clark in Financial TimesAndrew Clark, CD review

''Financial Times'', January 13, 2007.

References

External links

Michael Hersch web site

Michael Hersch YouTube Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hersch, Michael 1971 births 21st-century American composers 21st-century classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers Living people Musicians from Virginia Peabody Institute alumni Peabody Institute faculty People from Reston, Virginia People from Virginia Berlin Prize recipients American pianists American male pianists 21st-century American male musicians