Breaking Divides Through Music/Three World Premieres

During the month of November, Jeffrey Biegel will perform three World Premieres of works reflecting Global unity, National unity and Thanksgiving.

On November 19 and 20, Mr. Biegel performs a new work for piano, orchestra and chorus by Iranian composer, Farhad Poupel titled, "The Legend of Bijan and Manijeh". Robert Franz leads the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with Mr. Biegel as soloist. This project is the culmination of conversation between Mr. Biegel and Mr. Poupel - who is also a pharmacist, following in his father's footsteps. Mr. Poupel had sent solo piano music to Mr. Biegel a few years ago, which prompted Mr. Biegel to open a dialogue with the composer while he resided in his native Iran. Through print conversations online, Mr. Biegel asked Mr. Poupel if he would consider composing a work reflecting Persian history in the form of piano, orchestra and chorus. Reluctant at first, Mr. Poupel took on the endeavor. The result is a musical language which is not often heard in Western musical style, and, the chorus will sing their text in Farsi.The audio demo is here:

https://soundcloud.com/farhad-poupel-688829638/farhad-poupel-the-legend-of-bijan-and-manijeh-1

On November 26 and 27, Mr. Biegel performs his "Three Reflections" for piano and orchestra, originally composed as three solo piano pieces during Covid lockdowns. Each reflection is an American value, with an American historic figure as the subject:

Reflection of Freedom: John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Reflection of Justice: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Reflection of Equality: Martin Luther King

Mr. Biegel's student at the time, Harrison Sheckler, was completing his Master of Music degree at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, and is now pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Harrison created the orchestration around the piano part, using guidance from Mr. Biegel, who gave Harrison full leverage to create his own sound. Current student, Zhi Chen, created the audio demos using Logic Pro music samples. Only the middle movement, "Reflection of Justice: An Ode to Ruth Bader Ginsburg", had its premiere in October 2021 with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Lidiya Yankovskaya conducting. The other movements were orchestrated after this premiere, and will have its first performances with the Space Coast Symphony in Florida, Aaron Collins conducting. Here are the available recordings of "Three Reflections":

Freedom: https://youtu.be/fJzp2D8BO0k;

Justice: https://vimeo.com/665980167 (Dallas Symphony, Lidiya Yankovskaya conducts)

Equality: https://youtu.be/sQbMdpZF8MU

The second premiere stems from conversations between Mr. Biegel and Orlando-based composer, Christopher Marshall, who had attended Mr. Biegel's performance of Kenneth Fuchs's "Piano Concerto: Spiritualist" with the Space Coast orchestra in early 2021. Mr. Marshall was commissioned by Mr. Biegel, who suggested something to celebrate Thanksgiving through music, employing the hymn, 'We Gather Together'. The result is "Thanksgiving Variations".

https://soundcloud.com/jeffrey-biegel/thanksgiving-variations-for-piano-and-orchestra-1?si=420dc30c22624b779b9fa54e27ef8fbf&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

The third work on the program is a project created by Mr. Biegel to celebrate the music of Vince Guaraldi, the "Peanuts Concerto". It is a three movement work for piano and orchestra, arranged by Dick Tunney. The first movement features the Thanksgiving music from the "Peanuts" Thanksgiving television special, and, the third movement is the music featured in "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

Looking forward, Mr. Biegel's focus is on bringing 50 states together to celebrate the centennial of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", along with a new 'Rhapsody' being composed by American composer, Peter Boyer. The title Mr. Biegel asked Mr. Boyer to use is "Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue". Mr. Biegel believes that, with our divisions, we can come together under the American flag through music, to create a sense of unity through the divides. There are twenty-two states committed to this National initiative at the time of this release, 24 orchestras in all to date.

For more information about the following, please visit their respective websites:

Windsor Symphony Orchestra: https://www.windsorsymphony.com/

Robert Franz: https://www.robertfranz.com/

Farhad Poupel: https://www.farhadpoupel.com/

Jeffrey Biegel: https://www.jeffreybiegel.com/

Space Coast Symphony: https://spacecoastsymphony.org/

Aaron Collins: https://spacecoastsymphony.org/our-conductor/

Christopher Marshall: https://www.vaiaata.com/

Dick Tunney: https://www.tunneymusic.com/

Harrison Sheckler: https://www.harrisonsheckler.com/