Lori Laitman is an American
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
of art songs that are performed widely in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and abroad. She has composed nearly 200 songs, settings the words of classical and contemporary poets. The Journal of Singing writes: "It is difficult to think of anyone before the public today who equals her exceptional gifts for embracing a poetic text and giving it new and deeper life through music."
Laitman was born in
Long BeachLong Beach is a city in Nassau County, New York on a barrier island off the South Shore of Long Island and one of only two cities in the county. The other city is Glen Cove. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 35,462...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, in 1955.
Lori Laitman is an American
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
of art songs that are performed widely in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and abroad. She has composed nearly 200 songs, settings the words of classical and contemporary poets. The Journal of Singing writes: "It is difficult to think of anyone before the public today who equals her exceptional gifts for embracing a poetic text and giving it new and deeper life through music."
Laitman was born in
Long BeachLong Beach is a city in Nassau County, New York on a barrier island off the South Shore of Long Island and one of only two cities in the county. The other city is Glen Cove. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 35,462...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, in 1955. She graduated magna cum laude with honors in music from Yale
College and received her M.M. from the
Yale School of MusicThe Yale School of Music is one of the twelve Professional Schools at Yale University. The School offers three graduate degrees: Master of Music , Master of Musical Arts , and Doctor of Musical Arts...
. Her principal composition teachers were Jonathan Kramer and Frank Lewin. Laitman's initial focus was composing music for film and theatre, and in 1980 she wrote the score for
The Taming of The ShrewThe Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1594.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a drunken tinker named Sly is tricked into thinking he is a nobleman by a mischievous Lord...
for The Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. Since 1991, however, she has composed almost exclusively for the voice.
Among Laitman's recent commissions are "The Seed of Dream," settings of Vilna Ghetto survivor Abraham Sutzkever. Commissioned in 2005 by
Mina Miller and Music of Remembrance (Seattle, WA), this piece was recorded and released on the Naxos label in April of 2008. The European premiere took place in Vilnius, Lithuania by Norwegian baritone Stein Skjervold, and in February of 2009, baritone
Wolfgang HolzmairWolfgang Holzmair is a contemporary baritone from Vocklabruck, Austria.After training in the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Art he won 2nd prize in the baritone class of the 's-Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition in 1981, and a year later 1st prize in the Musikverein...
sang the work in his native Austria. In 2006 The Eastman School of Music, in conjunction with Syracuse University, commissioned Laitman to set the poetry of Margaret Atwood for soprano Eileen Strempel and pianist Sylvie Beaudette. The resulting cycle, "Orange Afternoon Lover," premiered at The Chautauqua Institute in the summer of 2006. In 2004, 2005 and 2008, The West Chester University Poetry Conference commissioned and performed settings of poets
David MasonDavid Mason is an English orchestral, solo and session trumpet player. Despite his long career he is probably best known to many for playing the piccolo trumpet solo on The Beatles' song Penny Lane. He is now retired.-Career:...
,
Annie FinchAnnie Finch is an American poet. She is the author or editor of fifteen books of poetry, translation, and criticism, including five books of poetry and poetry in translation, as well as opera libretti and poetic collaborations with visual art, music, theater, and dance...
,
Dana GioiaMichael Dana Gioia is an American poet and critic who retired early from his career as a corporate executive at General Foods to write full-time...
and Richard Wilbur. In June 2004, The Cleveland Opera staged "Come To Me In Dreams," an opera created from Laitman's songs by then-General Director, David Bamberger. In 2002 Orchestra New England, conducted by James Sinclair, premiered two newly orchestrated songs.
Laitman continues to work with important contemporary poets in the U.S. and abroad, as well as setting the poetry of
Emily DickinsonEmily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life...
,
Sylvia PlathSylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, children's author, and short story author.Known primarily for her poetry, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas...
, and
William Carlos WilliamsWilliam Carlos Williams , also known as WCW, was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine...
. Her music has been performed at Jordan Hall and The Gardner Museum (Massachusetts); Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and Alice Tully Hall (NY); Benaroya Hall and The Frye Art Museum (Washington); Shriver Hall and Strathmore Hall (Maryland); The Cleveland Institute of Art and The Ohio Theatre (Ohio); The Skylight Opera Theatre (Wisconsin); The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Corcoran Gallery, The Phillips Collection, The Cosmos Club,
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
, and
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtsThe John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
(D.C.).
Albany Records released her debut CD,
Mystery— The Songs of Lori Laitman in August 2000, and her second CD,
Dreaming, in May 2003. Her third disc,
Becoming a Redwood, was released in October 2006. Albany released Laitman's 4th solo disc of songs, "Within These Spaces" on May 1, 2009. Laitman's songs have been recorded on such other labels as Channel Classics, Gasparo, Capstone and Naxos. Her music has also been featured on radio programs nationwide, and articles about her work have appeared in
US Operaweb and other publications. A November 2006 piece ran in
Classical Singer Magazine, the journal for opera and Lieder singers and a new article is slated for summer of 2009.
The University of Central Arkansas has commissioned Laitman's first opera, an adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's
The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter is a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, considered to be his "magnum opus". Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who gives birth after committing adultery and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity...
. Poet David Mason wrote the libretto for the opera which had its debut in November of 2008. Of the work, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote: "Lori Laitman has written gorgeous music that works hand-in-glove with the words of librettist David Mason and underpins the very essence of this psychological-social drama...the few arias are at key moments and are stunningly effective."
Lori Laitman is represented by
Jona Rapoport Artist Management. Jona Rapoport is also the producer and host of
"Art & Fine Living with Jona" on Radio Shalom.
External links