COMMISSIONED WORKS
Summary
We have always believed that musicians (and especially young ones) need to know the language of the music of their own time. Music continues to evolve and progress by absorbing the history, culture and sensibilities of the world around the composers and performers. Music exists, in part, to express the experiences of the present moment.
For these reasons, the Klein Competition has always required applicants to perform 20th/21st Century works, to demonstrate facility in performing music of the present. In addition, we have commissioned excellent composers to create new works to challenge the imagination and technique of our performers at the Competition. The Commissioned Works ask each performer to create an individual concept of a previously unperformed composition, and make this new piece their own expressive vehicle. Hearing how each individual interprets this new music enables the listeners to learn a great deal about the contestant's abilities and expressive inclinations.
The Composer for the 2013 Klein Competition is Joel Friedman.
Biography
Joel Friedman (b. 1960) has always had the spirit of collaboration at the core of his musical activities whether serving as co-composer for the award-winning Off-Broadway and London West End hit musical Personals, or working directly with a soloist, like former New York Philharmonic prin- cipal violist Paul Neubauer for the ASCAP Young Composer Award-winning Concerto in the Form of Variations premiered at Carnegie Hall which Andrew Porter described in The New Yorker as "beautiful and intelligent" and James Oestreich described in The New York Times as "brilliant." Upcoming projects continue in this collaborative vein and include the chamber music theater piece Fallings featuring Susan Narucki and the Contrasts Quartet and a recording of his Pas de Deux with cellist Fred Sherry and pianist Stephen Gosling. Joel holds Composition degrees from Boston University and Columbia University, but the prelude to this formal educational included years performing in jazz and rock bands on trumpet and electric bass, experiences that have helped to inform and shape his music and collaborative approach.
Past Composers
Ronald Caltabiano
Theodore Dollarhide
Richard Festinger
Joel Hoffman – view PDFs
Dick Hyman – view PDFs
David Liptak
Jeffrey Miller – view PDFs
Elena Ruehr – view PDFs
Frank Stemper – view PDFs
Reynold Tharp