Composer Lera Auerbach to Launch Bold New Commissioning Project for Upcoming 'Concerto for Piano and Orchestra'

Composer Lera Auerbach to launch bold new commissioning project for her upcoming "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra."

Since she burst onto the scene while still a student a Juilliard, pianist and composer, Lera Auerbach, has always been a bit of a trend setter and rule breaker and her exciting and audacious new project appears to be no exception. It is a global collaborative commissioning project for her new "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra." The global aspect of the project will kick off with the composer herself performing the World Premiere, with the Stuttgart Philharmoniker under the baton of Maestro Dan Ettinger on November 24th, of next year.

The Siberian-born, Auerbach is one of the most exciting composers of the last half century. Born in Chelyabinsk, in the Ural Mountain, she immigrated to New York and studied at the Juilliard School, where she earned degrees in piano and composition. Not yet forty years of age, her body of work is already quite staggering, with compositions commissioned and performed by such artists as Gidon Kremer, the Kremerata Baltica, David Finkel, and the Tokyo String Quartet. In addition to her chamber compositions, she has written two symphonies and two operas (2011's "Gogol," and 2013's "The Blind" - an a cappella opera based on a play by Maurice Maeterlinck, in which the audience wears blindfolds for the duration of the performance.

After the premiere of the new Concerto, Auerbach has tapped the eminent pianist Jeffrey Biegel to perform the United States Premiere, followed by several other continental premieres with co-commissioning orchestras worldwide, during the 2016-17 season.

"I find her music extremely brilliant and this will be a fantastic addition to the canon," said Biegel of the new work. Auerbach and Biegel are in the process of inviting orchestras to take part in this groundbreaking commissioning project. Auerbach has been a unique voice in the field over the last 50 years. According to Biegel, "Each of her compositions bear the unique trademarks of her lyrical melodic style, intense rhythmic excitement and original harmonic language."

Auerbach has made an inspired choice in Jeffrey Biegel, a masterful pianist who also continues to break new ground and push the envelope with every new project he is involved with. Writing to the pianist, Auerbach said: "Your energy is very inspiring! Feel very free with your plans for the concerto - performances and recording. Think of it as your concerto now. It is very important to me that my piano music is championed by pianists other than myself, because only then it can really enter the repertoire. I am excited about our collaboration. - Lera"

New additions to the classical canon are always exciting and this one will be especially anticipated. The project is an intriguing new concept from an exciting composer; a particularly fresh and innovative idea at a time when the industry is desperately in need of innovation.