Lori Laitman
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Lori Laitman is an acclaimed American composer of art songs that are performed widely in the United States and abroad. The Journal of Singing called her "one of the finest art song composers on the scene today, who deservedly stands shoulder to shoulder with Ned Rorem for her uncommon sensitivity to text, her loving attention to the human voice, and her extraordinary palette of musical colors and gestures."
Laitman was born in Long Beach, New York, in 1955. She graduated magna cum laude with honors in music from Yale College and received her M.M. from the Yale School of Music. 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 Shrew 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 will be recorded by the group in 2007. 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 and 2005, The West Chester University Poetry Conference commissioned settings of poets David Mason and Dana Gioia. 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 Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, and William Carlos Williams. As of 2006, she has composed over 150 songs and set the words of 45 different poets. 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 Congress, and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (D.C.). Upcoming concerts are scheduled for Oslo, Berlin and Munich.
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. 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.
[edit] Trivia
Lori Laitman was encouraged to compose art songs by her friend, soprano Lauren Wagner. Ms. Wagner recorded Laitman's first cycle, "The Metropolitan Tower" on the "Mystery" CD.
