 The career of pianist Jeffrey Biegel has been marked by bold, creative achievements and highlighted by a series of firsts.
He performed the first live internet recitals in New York and Amsterdam in 1997 and 1998, enabling him to be seen and heard by a global audience. In 1999, he assembled the largest consortium of orchestras (over 25), to celebrate the millennium with a new concerto composed for him by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The piece, entitled 'Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra', was premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 1997, he performed the World Premiere of the restored, original 1924 manuscript of George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' with the Boston Pops. Charles Strouse composed a new work titled 'Concerto America' for Biegel, celebrating America and honoring the heroes and events of 9-11. Biegel premiered the piece with the Boston Pops in 2002. He transcribed the first edition of Balakirev's 'Islamey Fantasy' for piano and orchestra, which he premiered with the American Symphony Orchestra in 2001, and edited and recorded the first complete set of all '25 Preludes' by Cesar Cui.
Currently, he is assembling the first global consortium for the new 'Concerto no. 3 for Piano and Orchestra' being composed for him by Lowell Liebermann for 2005-06-07. The World Premiere will take place with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andreas Delfs on May 12-14 2006, followed by the European Premiere with the Schleswig Holstein Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gerard Oskamp, February 6-9, 2007.
Biegel is currently on the piano faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY).
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Sunday, January 06, 2008
Hanukah Fantasy
During the holiday season, I have been asked by many choral directors to compose a new Hanukah piece. There is, by far, a wide ratio between Christmas choral music and Hanukah music. As a result, I composed a 'Hanukah Fantasy' for SATB/piano (with an eye to get it orchestrated as well) during the holiday season and would be happy to send the Finale files with a written request via personal email requesting to see it. My email address is sharpnat@aol.com.
'Hanukah Fantasy' includes 'Maos Tzur' (in Hebrew), 'The Dreidel Song' (in English and Yiddish), 'Jerusalem of Gold' (in Hebrew), and, 'O Hanukah, O Hanukah'. (In the last piece, the piano part has a short excerpt of 'Se-vi-von' juxtaposed to 'O Hanukah'). Since it is in Finale format, if you do not have the Finale program, you can download Finale Note Pad gratis to view and print the files. It was great fun to compose, especially in giving the familiar tunes a fresh harmonic palette and choral flair. When I was in high school, I remember the brilliant Robert Shaw arrangement of 'Ezekiel Saw de Wheel' with the vocal effect of the spinning wheel. I made a bold attempt to create a spinning dreidel effect in my piece too.
Happy and healthy New Year to everyone!
posted by Jeffrey Biegel
12:28 PM
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