Lori Laitman

"David Bamberger, General Director of The Cleveland Opera, has created an opera from my art songs titled Come to Me in Dreams. The tale of a Holocaust survivor, it will premiere June 2004 at the Ohio Theatre in Cleveland with Sanford Sylvan in the lead. In February of 2003, I served as Guest Composer in the Music Department of Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. The next month radio host George Shangrow of KING-FM in Seattle interviewed me and played selections from my Dreaming CD. As part of the 'Songs Across the Americas 2003 Festival,' Maya Frieman Hoover presented lecture/recitals on my music in La Paz and Cochabamba (Bolivia)."

Premieres

One or Two Things (poetry of Mary Oliver), was introduced February 14, 2003, at the Sumner School Museum, Washington, D.C., by mezzo-soprano Karyn Friedman, accompanied by the composer. In an April 7 concert at the Juilliard School of Music, New York, NY, soprano Jennifer Check and pianist Craig Terry presented Early Snow (poetry of Mary Oliver). Fathers (poetry of Anne Ranasinghe and David Vogel), was featured in the April 27 Music of Remembrance Series, Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA, with baritone Erich Parce, violinist Jeannie Wells Yablonsky, cellist Amos Yang, and pianist Mina Miller.

Performances

Mystery (poetry of Sara Teasdale) and The Metropolitan Tower and Other Songs (Teasdale), were performed by the Helding/Blyth Duo February 23, 2003, at First Lutheran Church, Carlisle, PA. Keri Alkema, mezzo-soprano, and Douglas Fisher, piano, performed Four Dickinson Songs March 16, at the Kosciuszko Foundation, New York, NY; a broadcast of this concert aired on WQXR radio March 22. On May 13, Daughters, (poetry of Anne Ranasinghe and Karen Gershon), was presented by soprano Patricia Edwards, violinist Carrie Kennedy, cellist Fang Fang Xu, and pianist Cheryl S. Lin, at the Westwood United Methodist Church, Los Angeles, CA. I Never Saw Another Butterfly received multiple performances: March 27, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA, Sandra McClain, soprano and Carolyn Bryan, saxophone; April 26, CAMI Hall, New York, NY, Anna Tonna, soprano and Oscar Noriega, saxophone; September 9, Church of The Epiphany, Washington, D.C., Lisa Shaw, soprano and Jason McFeaters, saxophone; and November 16, Andover Chamber Music Series, Andover, MA, Maria Ferrante, soprano and Kenneth Radnovsky, saxophone. Living in the Body (poetry of Joyce Sutphen) received two performances: March 27, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, VA, Sandra McClain, soprano and Carolyn Bryan, saxophone; and July 11, World Saxophone Congress XIII, Minneapolis, MN, Sandra McClain and Carolyn Bryan.

Publications

Four Dickinson Songs, new version for mezzo-soprano; Lines Written at the Falls, soprano and piano; Early Snow, soprano and piano; One or Two Things, mezzo-soprano and piano; Long Pond Revisited, baritone and cello; Living in the Body, soprano and saxophone; all by Enchanted Knickers Music (Classical Vocal Reprints). The following pieces have been republished by Enchanted Knickers Music: The Metropolitan Tower and Other Songs, Days and Nights, The Love Poems of Marichiko, and Daughters.

Recordings

Dreaming: Songs of Lori Laitman, released May 1, 2003, by Albany Records. [See www.artsongs.com for details and soundclips.] So Much Beauty, a new CD produced by soprano Janeanne Houston, will include the premiere of two new Dickinson settings, Good Morning, Midnight and Wider than the Sky. Also included is If I . . . from Four Dickinson Songs, and the first recording of the soprano/clarinet version Birdsong, (from I Never Saw Another Butterfly). Mezzo-soprano Virginia Dupuy, accompanied by pianists Shields Collins Bray, Tara Emerson, and William Jordan, will release a CD of Dickinson settings titled Emily in Song: Dwell in Possibility; included are They Might Not Need Me and If I . . . . A new CD by soprano Sonya Gabrielle Baker and pianist Vicki Berneking will feature several songs from the cycle Days and Nights.

Further Information

• 2001-2002 American Composers Update
• 2000-2001 American Composers Update
• 1999-2000 American Composers Update
• 1998-1999 American Composers Update
• 1997-1998 American Composers Update
• 1996-1997 American Composers Update
• Lori Laitman's website
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online
• SAI's Music for Young People section