• Jeffrey Biegel is one of today's most revered artists having created a multi-faceted career as a pianist, composer and arranger. His electrifying technique and mesmerizing touch has received critical acclaim and garners praise worldwide. Known for his standard-setting performances of the standard repertoire, Mr. Biegel stepped in on short notice on April 24/25 to perform Tschaikowsky's Piano Concerto no. 1 with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota in Colombia, with Muhai Tang conducting. His recent recordings include Leroy Anderson's 'Concerto in C', conducted by Leonard Slatkin with the BBC Concert Orchestra on the Naxos label, and 'Classical Carols' on the Koch International Classics label. His recording of Vivaldi solo transcriptions for Naxos sees its release in 2009 along with the first installment of the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas on the E1 label. Richard Danielpour composes a new concerto for Mr. Biegel, which will be premiered with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in February, 2010, Carl St. Clair conducting, and, during the 2010-11 season, he premieres William Bolcom's 'Prometheus for Piano, Orchestra and Chorus'. Mr. Biegel is currently assembling a commissioning project for Roberto Sierra's 'The Planets: An Odyssey for Piano and Orchestra' for the 2011-12 season. Spring 2009 also sees the release of Mr. Biegel's 'Hanukah Fantasy' for SATB/piano, published by the Hal Leonard Corporation.

    The career of pianist Jeffrey Biegel has been marked by bold, creative achievements and highlighted by a series of firsts: He initiated the first live internet recitals in New York and Amsterdam in 1997 and 1998, and, in 1999, assembled the largest consortium of orchestras (over 25), to celebrate the millennium with a new concerto composed for him by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The 'Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra' was premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2000, which will be recorded for Naxos in 2009 with the orchestra of Florida State University. He performed the Boston premiere of the restored, original 1924 manuscript of George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' with the Boston Pops. He also transcribed Balakirev's 'Islamey Fantasy' for piano and orchestra, premiered with the American Symphony Orchestra in 2001, followed with Charles Strouse composing a new work titled 'Concerto America' for Mr. Biegel, premiered with the Boston Pops in 2002. He further arranged the piano part for Billy Joel's 'Symphonic Fantasies' in 2006, with performances at the Eastern Music Festival, the Boris Brott Festival and with the Indianapolis, Harrisburg, and other US orchestras. His new editions for Schirmer's Performance Editions include Schumann's 'Scenes from Childhood' and a new 'Sonatina Album' with accompanying audio cds.

    Mr. Biegel joined 18 co-commissioning orchestras for Lowell Liebermann's 'Concerto no. 3 for Piano and Orchestra' composed exclusively for him for the 2006-07-08 seasons. The World Premiere took place with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andreas Delfs, and the European Premiere featured the Schleswig Holstein Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gerard Oskamp.

    Until the age of 3, Mr. Biegel was unable to hear nor speak, until corrected by surgery. The 'reverse Beethoven' phenomenon can explain Mr. Biegel's life in music, having heard only vibrations in his formative years. Born a second-generation American, Mr. Biegel's roots are of Russian and Austrian heritage. A Russian cousin, pianist Herman Kosoff, emigrated to the United States in the early 20th century, and had studied with the great Leopold Godowsky in Austria.

    Mr. Biegel, with his son, Craig, composed 'The World In Our Hands', published by the Hal Leonard Corporation. Also published through Hal Leonard are 'Christmas In A Minute', a choral setting of Chopin's 'Minute Waltz', an arrangement of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', and 'Hey Ho, the Wind and the Rain' from William Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'. Carl Fischer also publishes 'Ho Ho Hanukah! Ho Ho Christmas!' and 'Different Kind of Hero' in 2008, and, Earthsongs includes Mr. Biegel's 'Elegy of Anne Boleyn' in their catalogue. Mr. Biegel is also an exclusive recording artist for PianoDisc (www.pianodisc.com).

    Leonard Bernstein said of pianist Jeffrey Biegel: 'He played fantastic Liszt. He is a splendid musician and a brilliant performer.' He won the First Grand Prize in the 1989 Marguerite Long International Piano Competition and First Prize in the 1985 William Kapell/University of Maryland International Piano Competition. He studied at The Juilliard School with Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of Josef Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel.

    Mr. Biegel is currently on the piano faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, a City University of New York (CUNY), and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). he resides outside New York City with his wife, Sharon, his sons, Craig and Evan. His web site is www.jeffreybiegel.com

« 
 »
Jun 13 2005

Cliburn, Internet, and the Future

Posted by Jeffrey Biegel in Uncategorized

A very well said summation from John von Rhein and my letter to him personally below:

Dear Mr. von Rhein,

Your article concerning the the post-Cliburn reality is a wonderful summation indeed. The music world and its opportunities for young artists have indeed evolved into an existence a bit different from the ones we remember after earlier Cliburn events. Due to the changes of worldwide demographics and audience attendance, not to mention the technological diversions from the concert halls, the realities for these young artists and their eventual need to network and soul search is ever more a reality than in years gone by. I hope many pianists (and instrumentalists) will read your article, as it is an honest lesson to be learned for many attempting to secure a recognizable career stronghold in the 21st century world of music.

I was happy to read your reference to the first time the Cliburn event utilized live audio and video–I was the first to use this technology back in 1997 in a first live audio and video streaming recital on two occasions: in New York’s Steinway Hall on July 8 and 25, 1997, and during the following season for the first European event from Amsterdam for a Netherlands based internet company pushing their streaming technology. It was an idea I had to help broaden the 21st century audience addicted to the internet, to bring a classical piano recital directly to them in the privacy of their own home (and/or office). Peter Goodrich, Director of Concert and Artists Services, remarked that it was ahead of its time when the Steinway event was produced, but it did indeed prove the technology worked (despite a delayed glitch on the first run on the July 8 cybercast). I still envision recitals and symphony orchestra subscription series being available online (for a nominal fee to ‘attend’) which will eventually assist the orchestras and concert series in their online revenue to stay afloat. From what I have witnessed during my travels (although my concerts have been well attended), this is something that may eventually become necessary due to a declining attendance amongst younger attendees. The internet might not be the same as the ‘live’ concert hall experience, but with enhanced home theatre on the rise, home concert attendance might become a fine adjunct to the ‘live’ concert hall attendance.

I hope to have the pleasure to play again in the Chicago area. In the interim, please feel free to visit my web site www.cyberecital.com. Once the premiere of the Lowell Liebermann Third Piano Concerto has occurred next May in Milwaukee (and will be followed by 17 other orchestras performing the work with me as far as Europe), I am sure the new concerto will be pitched to the Chicago area.

With very kind regards,

Jeffrey Biegel

This entry was posted on Monday, June 13th, 2005 at 6:51 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply