Derek Bermel
composer-in-residence
Described by the Toronto Star as “an eclectic with wide open ears,” composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel has been hailed for his creativity, theatricality and virtuosity. His works draw from a rich variety of musical genres and cultures, and he frequently collaborates with artists across the spectrum, from theatre to film to poetry to architecture. Bermel begins his three-year tenure as composer-in-residence with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 2009-10.
Currently serving as 2006-09 Music Alive composer-in-residence with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Bermel has received commissions from the Pittsburgh, National and Saint Louis symphonies; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; violinist Midori; and pianists Christopher Taylor and Andy Russo, among others. His many awards and honors include the Alpert Award in the Arts, the Rome Prize, Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships, the Trailblazer Award from the American Music Center and the Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Recently, Bermel performed as soloist alongside Wynton Marsalis in his Migration Series, a work commissioned by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and American Composers Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Orchestra produced an all-Bermel concert as part of its Music of Today series at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Highlights of Bermel’s 2008-09 season included the premiere of his The Good Life for chorus and orchestra by the Pittsburgh Symphony; a return to Carnegie Hall for the premiere of a Koussevitzky Commission for American Composers Orchestra; and Golden Motors, a music-theatre collaboration. The release of two CDs of Bermel’s orchestral and large ensemble works is planned for 2009.
Bermel holds BA and DMA degrees from Yale University and the University of Michigan. His composition teachers include William Albright, Louis Andriessen, William Bolcom, Henri Dutilleux, André Hajdu and Michael Tenzer. He has also studied music in Jerusalem, Bulgaria, Brazil and Ghana.
http://derekbermel.com/