Amanda Harberg
Amanda Harberg is an American composer and pianist of classical music whose work has been performed internationally. She is currently on the composition faculty at the Berklee College of Music, and has been on the faculty at the Juilliard School as well as the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Her work has been performed by leading orchestras worldwide like the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Notable students include Tito Muñoz. She is notable for orchestral work like her Piccolo Concerto, Clarinet Concerto, and Tuba Sonata, as well as wind band work.
Biography
Harberg was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied piano and composition in her early youth, completing her first composition at the age of 5. Growing up, she studied piano with Mariana Grin and orchestration with Leonid Grin, who expanded her repertoire. She attended high school at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and had compositions performed by the University of the Arts Orchestra.She earned a BM and Masters in Music from the Juilliard School as the only female undergraduate in her class, studying with Stephen Albert, David Diamond, and Robert Beaser, graduating with the Peter Mennin Prize. She subsequently received a Fulbright–Hays Fellowship to study in Europe with Frederic Rzewski at the Royal Conservatory of Liège. Harberg additionally undertook piano studies under Zelma Bodzin and György Sándor, a protége of Bela Bartok, and took coursework at Columbia University and Barnard College. She later received a PhD from Rutgers University under Robert Aldridge.
Harberg's music has been praised by the New York Times as "a sultry excursion into lyricism." Yannick Nézet-Séguin said that Harberg "shrugs off the mundane and explores the unexpected." John Corigliano stated that "she invigorates the brain and touches the soul. I love her work."
She has been commissioned and performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, New World Symphony, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, New Jersey Youth Symphony, Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, Dorian Wind Quintet, Imani Winds, New York Youth Symphony, United States Army Band, Bay Atlantic Symphony, Harmonium Choral Society, Network for New Music, and Grand Rapids Symphony, and soloists Dennis Kim, Paul Cohen, Timothy McAllister, Anthony McGill, Valerie Coleman, Brett Deubner, Allison Brewster Franzetti, and Robert Langevin. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, JoAnn Falletta, David Alan Miller, Ransom Wilson, and David Lockington have conducted her work. In 2012, the world premiere recording Birding in the Palisades was first recorded by the Palisades Virtuosi, which featured original monologues to Harberg's music by singer Marni Nixon.
Her music has been performed in venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Disney Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Verizon Hall, and the Symphony Center and has been awarded two New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowships, a New York State Council on the Arts fellowship, a MacDowell Colony summer residency, New York Youth Symphony First Music Award, and nine National Flute Association Newly Published Music awards. She has held residencies at schools like Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music, Eastman School of Music, Boston Conservatory, DePaul University, Arizona State University, Lawrence University, University of Nevada, Coastal Carolina University, and Ohio University. She is published by Schott Music.
Compositions
Orchestra
- Clarinet Concerto for clarinet and orchestra; also version for wind band
- Piccolo Concerto for piccolo and orchestra, world premiere with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra with soloist Erica Peel
- On Rousseau for orchestra, commissioned by the Bay Atlantic Symphony
- Solis for orchestra
- Prayer for orchestra
- Elegy for orchestra
- Of Earth and Air orchestra
- Viola Concerto for viola and orchestra, commissioned by violist Brett Duebner
- Elegy for viola and string orchestra
Chamber music
- Excursions for wind quintet
- Oh, Snap! for clarinet in Bb and piano
- This! for solo flute and flute ensemble
- Tuba Sonata for tuba and piano
- Aria for flute, clarinet in A, and piano
- Crossroads for flute, clarinet in A or English horn, and piano
- Bassoon Sonata for bassoon and piano
- Luca’s Garden for clarinet in Bb, violin, cello, and piano
- Fever Dreams for three piccolos and piano
- Mementos for flute and guitar
- Sonata for Piccolo and Piano for piccolo and piano
- Suite for Wind Quintet for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon
- Court Dances for flute and piano
- Sadie’s Birthday Adventures for narrator, clarinet, bass trombone, double bass, percussion, and piano
- Sonata for Clarinet and Piano for clarinet in Bb and piano
- Feathers and Wax for flute and piano, winner of the 2016 National Flute Association Newly Published Music award
- Venus Unhinged for two amplified sopranos, flute, oboe, clarinet in Bb, bassoon, soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone, horn, trumpet in C, trombone, percussion, synthesizer, two violins, viola, cello, bass
- Prayer for flute or viola and piano
- Birding in the Palisades for flute and piano
- Philadelphia Suite for viola and piano
- Elegy for viola and piano
- Tenement Rhapsody for two pianos or clarinet ensemble
- Poem and Transformation for flute and piano
- On the Edge for two cellos
Choral music
- This! for flute and SATB a cappella chorus
- Apparitions for SATB a cappella chorus
Solo non-piano music
- Don’t Forget to Write for solo clarinet or piccolo
- Toccata for organ, commissioned by the Grand Rapids Presbyterian Church for organist Helen Hofmeister Hawley.
- For Sydney for solo viola
Solo piano music
- Four Sisters for solo piano, commissioned by the Fauré Centennial Festival
- Woodland Toccata for piano solo
- When We Sat for Tea for piano solo
- Windswept for piano solo
- Rock Star for piano solo
- A Conversation for piano solo
- Up Up and Away for solo piano
- Breathing Songs for solo piano
- 5 Short Pieces for solo piano
- Piano Sonata for solo piano
Discography