All material found in the Press Releases section is provided by parties entirely independent of Musical America, which is not responsible for content.
Press Releases
Derek Bermel Appointed Composer in Residence at Mannes
For Immediate Release
July 16, 2012
Contact: Ben Solis, 212-580-0210 x4801; solisb@newschool.edu
Composer and Clarinetist Derek Bermel Appointed Mannes Composer in Residence
New York, NY—Richard Kessler, Dean of Mannes College The New School For Music, announced the appointment today of composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel as Composer in Residence for the 2012-2013 academic year.
“Derek’s exemplary work as a composer, clarinetist, and musical citizen extraordinaire is a perfect match for today’s Mannes community. I’ve been a personal fan for years and am delighted at the prospect of this partnership,” Kessler said.
As Composer in Residence, Bermel will play a key role as an advocate for new music, actively engaging virtually all of the Mannes community, from students, faculty and administration in its college, preparatory, and extension divisions, to the Mannes Board of Governors. Bermel’s residency plans include a broad range of activities involving teaching, lectures, performance, and more. The residency will feature performances of Bermel’s work by a variety of Mannes ensembles, including MACE, Mannes’s new large ensemble dedicated to new music and led Lowell Liebermann, recently appointed to the Mannes faculty.
Derek Bermel’s residency signals an expansion of the role of new music at Mannes, which is a key part of Mannes’s new organizational plan. Where prior residencies primarily engaged the Mannes composition department, Bermel’s work will extend across all areas of Mannes and into the other divisions of The New School.
Bermel is the 11th composer in residence at Mannes since 2002. Previous resident composers have included Bruce Adolphe, Martin Bresnick, Jennifer Higdon, Lowell Liebermann, Paul Moravec, John Musto, Bright Sheng, Christopher Theofanidis, George Tsontakis, and Chen Yi.
“Truly ambitious new directions, combined with a long- standing tradition of excellence and quality make Mannes a really exciting place to be a resident composer,” said Derek Bermel.
The Mannes Composer in Residence is supported by a gift from The Mannes Board of Governors, Linda Rappaport, Chair.
###
About Mannes College The New School for Music
Mannes College The New School for Music develops the next generation of classical music citizens by combining music conservatory traditions with the cutting-edge advantage of being part of The New School, the nation's foremost progressive university.
Founded in 1916, the Mannes formula for quality education has capitalized on its world-class faculty, location in the heart of the global arts capital, small class size, and a living tradition of rigor and depth that develops strong technique and great artistry. The Mannes ethos forms the basis of a vibrant community, whether you are a degree or diploma student in the College or Extension divisions, or a young person studying in Mannes Prep.
In this second decade of the 21st century, when demands on artists are greater and more complex than ever, Mannes is committed to providing a wide range of exciting learning and knowledge building in partnership with its sister divisions of The New School, including one of the world’s great design schools, Parsons The New School for Design; the liberal arts at Eugene Lang College; public policy, business, and civic engagement in The New School for Public Engagement; and cross disciplinary arts learning at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and The New School for Drama.
For more information on Mannes and The New School visit http://www.newschool.edu/mannes.
About Derek Bermel
Described by the Toronto Star as an "eclectic with wide open ears," Grammy-nominated composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel has been widely hailed for his creativity, theatricality, and virtuosity. Bermel's works draw from a rich variety of musical genres, including classical, jazz, pop, rock, blues, folk, and gospel. Hands-on experience with music of cultures around the world has become part of the fabric and force of his compositional language.?
Bermel has worked with a diverse array of musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Midori, John Adams, Paquito D’Rivera, Philip Glass, James Galway, Gustavo Dudamel, Luciana Souza, Yasmin Bey (Mos Def), and Stephen Sondheim. In recent seasons Bermel performed as clarinet soloist alongside Marsalis in his own Migration Series, a work commissioned by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and ACO. He also appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Adams' Gnarly Buttons, and in his own concerto Voices at the Beijing Modern Music Festival. The Philharmonia Orchestra also produced an all-Bermel concert as part of its Music of Today series at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Other highlights of recent seasons include Mar de Setembro with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony's premiere of The Good Life for chorus, soloists, and orchestra, Golden Motors, a music-theatre collaboration with librettist/lyricist Wendy S. Walters, and return engagements at Carnegie Hall for the premiere of A shout, a whisper, and a trace, a Koussevitzky Commission for ACO conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, and as soloist in both the Copland Concerto and the world premiere of Fang Man's clarinet concerto, conducted by George Manahan.
Currently serving as Artist-in-Residence at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and Creative Adviser to the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Bermel has received commissions from the Pittsburgh, National, Boston, Saint Louis, New Jersey, Albany, and Pacific Symphonies, Los Angeles and Westchester Philharmonics, the New York Youth Symphony, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, WNYC Radio, Eighth Blackbird, the Guarneri String Quartet, Music from China, De Ereprijs (Netherlands), Jazz Xchange (U.K.), Figura (Denmark), violinist Midori, electric guitarist Wiek Hijmans, cellist Fred Sherry, and pianists Christopher Taylor and Andy Russo, among others.
His many awards include the Alpert Award in the Arts, the Rome Prize, Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships, and the Trailblazer Award from the American Music Center, as well as the Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the University of Michigan, commissions from the Koussevitzky and Fromm Foundations, and residencies at Yaddo, Tanglewood, Aspen, Banff, Bellagio, Copland House, Sacatar, and Civitella Ranieri.??
Bermel has collaborated with artists in a wide variety of genres, including playwright Will Eno, filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson, installation artist Shimon Attie, landscape architect Andy Cao, choreographer Sheron Wray, performance artist Kim Jones, composer/sound designer David Reid, poets Wendy S. Walters, Mark Halliday and Naomi Shihab Nye, and Albert Bermel. As an educator, he founded the groundbreaking Making Score program for young composers at the New York Youth Symphony.
Bermel holds B.A. and D.M.A. degrees from Yale University and the University of Michigan. He studied composition with William Albright, Louis Andriessen, William Bolcom, Henri Dutilleux, André Hajdu, and Michael Tenzer, and clarinet with Ben Armato and Keith Wilson. He also studied ethnomusicology and orchestration in Jerusalem with André Hajdu, later traveling to Bulgaria to study Thracian folk style with Nikola Iliev, to Brazil to learn caxixi with Julio Góes, and to Ghana to study Lobi xylophone with Ngmen Baaru.
Bermel is a member of ASCAP and his music is published by Peermusic (North/South America & Asia) and Faber Music (Europe & Australia).
For more information on Derek Bermel visit: http://www.derekbermel.com/
July 16, 2012
Contact: Ben Solis, 212-580-0210 x4801; solisb@newschool.edu
Composer and Clarinetist Derek Bermel Appointed Mannes Composer in Residence
New York, NY—Richard Kessler, Dean of Mannes College The New School For Music, announced the appointment today of composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel as Composer in Residence for the 2012-2013 academic year.
“Derek’s exemplary work as a composer, clarinetist, and musical citizen extraordinaire is a perfect match for today’s Mannes community. I’ve been a personal fan for years and am delighted at the prospect of this partnership,” Kessler said.
As Composer in Residence, Bermel will play a key role as an advocate for new music, actively engaging virtually all of the Mannes community, from students, faculty and administration in its college, preparatory, and extension divisions, to the Mannes Board of Governors. Bermel’s residency plans include a broad range of activities involving teaching, lectures, performance, and more. The residency will feature performances of Bermel’s work by a variety of Mannes ensembles, including MACE, Mannes’s new large ensemble dedicated to new music and led Lowell Liebermann, recently appointed to the Mannes faculty.
Derek Bermel’s residency signals an expansion of the role of new music at Mannes, which is a key part of Mannes’s new organizational plan. Where prior residencies primarily engaged the Mannes composition department, Bermel’s work will extend across all areas of Mannes and into the other divisions of The New School.
Bermel is the 11th composer in residence at Mannes since 2002. Previous resident composers have included Bruce Adolphe, Martin Bresnick, Jennifer Higdon, Lowell Liebermann, Paul Moravec, John Musto, Bright Sheng, Christopher Theofanidis, George Tsontakis, and Chen Yi.
“Truly ambitious new directions, combined with a long- standing tradition of excellence and quality make Mannes a really exciting place to be a resident composer,” said Derek Bermel.
The Mannes Composer in Residence is supported by a gift from The Mannes Board of Governors, Linda Rappaport, Chair.
###
About Mannes College The New School for Music
Mannes College The New School for Music develops the next generation of classical music citizens by combining music conservatory traditions with the cutting-edge advantage of being part of The New School, the nation's foremost progressive university.
Founded in 1916, the Mannes formula for quality education has capitalized on its world-class faculty, location in the heart of the global arts capital, small class size, and a living tradition of rigor and depth that develops strong technique and great artistry. The Mannes ethos forms the basis of a vibrant community, whether you are a degree or diploma student in the College or Extension divisions, or a young person studying in Mannes Prep.
In this second decade of the 21st century, when demands on artists are greater and more complex than ever, Mannes is committed to providing a wide range of exciting learning and knowledge building in partnership with its sister divisions of The New School, including one of the world’s great design schools, Parsons The New School for Design; the liberal arts at Eugene Lang College; public policy, business, and civic engagement in The New School for Public Engagement; and cross disciplinary arts learning at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and The New School for Drama.
For more information on Mannes and The New School visit http://www.newschool.edu/mannes.
About Derek Bermel
Described by the Toronto Star as an "eclectic with wide open ears," Grammy-nominated composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel has been widely hailed for his creativity, theatricality, and virtuosity. Bermel's works draw from a rich variety of musical genres, including classical, jazz, pop, rock, blues, folk, and gospel. Hands-on experience with music of cultures around the world has become part of the fabric and force of his compositional language.?
Bermel has worked with a diverse array of musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Midori, John Adams, Paquito D’Rivera, Philip Glass, James Galway, Gustavo Dudamel, Luciana Souza, Yasmin Bey (Mos Def), and Stephen Sondheim. In recent seasons Bermel performed as clarinet soloist alongside Marsalis in his own Migration Series, a work commissioned by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and ACO. He also appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Adams' Gnarly Buttons, and in his own concerto Voices at the Beijing Modern Music Festival. The Philharmonia Orchestra also produced an all-Bermel concert as part of its Music of Today series at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Other highlights of recent seasons include Mar de Setembro with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony's premiere of The Good Life for chorus, soloists, and orchestra, Golden Motors, a music-theatre collaboration with librettist/lyricist Wendy S. Walters, and return engagements at Carnegie Hall for the premiere of A shout, a whisper, and a trace, a Koussevitzky Commission for ACO conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, and as soloist in both the Copland Concerto and the world premiere of Fang Man's clarinet concerto, conducted by George Manahan.
Currently serving as Artist-in-Residence at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and Creative Adviser to the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Bermel has received commissions from the Pittsburgh, National, Boston, Saint Louis, New Jersey, Albany, and Pacific Symphonies, Los Angeles and Westchester Philharmonics, the New York Youth Symphony, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, WNYC Radio, Eighth Blackbird, the Guarneri String Quartet, Music from China, De Ereprijs (Netherlands), Jazz Xchange (U.K.), Figura (Denmark), violinist Midori, electric guitarist Wiek Hijmans, cellist Fred Sherry, and pianists Christopher Taylor and Andy Russo, among others.
His many awards include the Alpert Award in the Arts, the Rome Prize, Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships, and the Trailblazer Award from the American Music Center, as well as the Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the University of Michigan, commissions from the Koussevitzky and Fromm Foundations, and residencies at Yaddo, Tanglewood, Aspen, Banff, Bellagio, Copland House, Sacatar, and Civitella Ranieri.??
Bermel has collaborated with artists in a wide variety of genres, including playwright Will Eno, filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson, installation artist Shimon Attie, landscape architect Andy Cao, choreographer Sheron Wray, performance artist Kim Jones, composer/sound designer David Reid, poets Wendy S. Walters, Mark Halliday and Naomi Shihab Nye, and Albert Bermel. As an educator, he founded the groundbreaking Making Score program for young composers at the New York Youth Symphony.
Bermel holds B.A. and D.M.A. degrees from Yale University and the University of Michigan. He studied composition with William Albright, Louis Andriessen, William Bolcom, Henri Dutilleux, André Hajdu, and Michael Tenzer, and clarinet with Ben Armato and Keith Wilson. He also studied ethnomusicology and orchestration in Jerusalem with André Hajdu, later traveling to Bulgaria to study Thracian folk style with Nikola Iliev, to Brazil to learn caxixi with Julio Góes, and to Ghana to study Lobi xylophone with Ngmen Baaru.
Bermel is a member of ASCAP and his music is published by Peermusic (North/South America & Asia) and Faber Music (Europe & Australia).
For more information on Derek Bermel visit: http://www.derekbermel.com/
WHO'S BLOGGING
Law and Disorder by GG Arts Law
Career Advice by Legendary Manager Edna Landau
An American in Paris by Frank Cadenhead
FEATURED JOBS
RENT A PHOTO
