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Composer Steven R. Gerber
Steven
R. Gerber was born in 1948 in Washington, D.C. and now lives in New
York City. He received degrees from Haverford College and from
Princeton University, where he received a 4-year fellowship. His
composition teachers included Robert Parris, J. K. Randall, Earl Kim,
and Milton Babbitt.
Two CDs of Gerber's orchestral works were released on major labels in 2000. Chandos issued his Symphony No. 1, Dirge and Awakening, Viola Concerto, and Triple Overture,
played by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Sanderling,
with Lars Anders Tomter, viola, and the Bekova Sisters Trio. [CD details] KOCH International Classics, under a grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, released his Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, and Serenade for String Orchestra, played by the National Chamber Orchestra under Piotr Gajewski, with soloists Kurt Nikkanen and Carter Brey. [CD details] After the American premiere of his Violin Concerto at the Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts in 1995 by Nikkanen and the National Chamber Orchestra under
Gajewski, the Washington Post called it "a major addition to the
contemporary violin repertoire: lyrical, passionate, beautifully
tailored to the instrument's character and capabilities...Gerber has
revived the spirit of romanticism in this work, with a strong sense of
tonal melody and of the dramatic effects and surprises still possible
in traditional forms...one of the year's most memorable events." And
when Carter Brey premiered his Cello Concerto with the same
orchestra and conductor in 1996, the Washington Post said, "Gerber's
concerto seems to have what it takes to establish a foothold.... The
music is composed with a fine sense of instrumental color.... Gerber
has given his soloist some fine, expressive melodies."
Recent works of Gerber's include a Viola Concerto written for Yuri Bashmet and premiered by Bashmet at his summer festival in Tours, France; String Quartets No. 4 and 5, written respectively for the Fine Arts and Amernet String Quartets; "Spirituals" for clarinet and string quartet, commissioned by Concertante Chamber
Players for performances in 2000 at the Library of Congress and Merkin
Hall (NYC) and in Harrisburg; a Clarinet Concerto for Jon Manasse, premiered by him with the National Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestro Piotr Gajewski, and "Fanfare for the Voice of A-M-E-R-I-C-A," commissioned to celebrate VOA's 60th anniversary, and premiered at the
VOA auditorium on a 9/11 memorial concert in 2003. The Fanfare has
since then been performed by the Wheeling Symphony, the Omaha Symphony,
the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) Orchestra, and by the National
Philharmonic Orchestra at the new Music Center at Strathmore as part of
the 2005 ASOL convention.
 Gerber's
music is well-known also in Russia and Ukraine, where he has had
numerous tours with literally dozens of performances of his orchestral
works as well as many concerts of his solo and chamber works. Several
of his major works were given their world premieres there, including "Dirge and Awakening" by the Russian National Orchestra under Mikhail Pletnev at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Violin Concerto by the Novosibirsk Philharmonic under Arnold Katz, with soloist Kurt Nikkanen, and Serenade Concertante by Chamber Orchestra Kremlin under Misha Rachlevsky at the Small Hall
of the Moscow Conservatory. Gerber has written several works for famed
Russian violinist Tatyana Grindenko.
Current projects include a new orchestral work for Vladimir
Ashkenazy and a new work for clarinet and piano for Jon Manasse. In
spring, 2006 KOCH International will issue a new CD of nine of his solo
and chamber works, spanning the period 1967-2001, all performed by
violinist Kurt Nikkanen, along with violinists Cho-Liang Lin and Cyrus
Beroukhim, cellist Brinton Smith, and pianist Sara Davis Buechner.
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