ABOUT DAVID AMRAM
“A Godsend to those who believe in the power of music to change lives and inspire” - Wynton Marsalis | “He’s one of the most talented musicians in the universe!” - Pete Seeger, New York Times | “This guy’s an All-American eclectic!” - Nick Spitzer of NPR’s American Routes | “Every profession should have its Amram!” - George Plimpton, author |“Amram remains the most indefatigable musician of our time.” - Douglas Brinkley, historian
David Amram has conducted more than seventy-five of the world’s great orchestras, composed more than 100 orchestral and chamber works, written two operas and, early in his career, composed and conducted many scores for theater and films, including Splendor in the Grass and The Manchurian Candidate. Since being appointed by Leonard Bernstein as the first composer in residence with the New York Philharmonic in 1966, he has become one of the most acclaimed composers of his generation, listed by BMI as one of the 20 Most Performed Composers of Concert Music in the United States since 1974.
For twenty-nine seasons, Amram was the Music Director, Conductor and Narrator of Young People's, Family and Free Summer Parks concerts for the Brooklyn Philharmonic at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; and for seventeen seasons, Amram was the Musical Director and Conductor of the International Jewish Arts Festival, conducting members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In addition to conducting, he has also performed with symphony orchestras as a
soloist on instruments from all over the world, combining jazz, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Native American and folk music alongside the European classics.
Along with Julius Watkins, Amram is an acknowledged pioneer player of jazz French horn since the 1950s, as well as being known as a trailblazer for World Music. He is also a virtuoso on piano, numerous flutes and whistles, percussion, and dozens of folkloric instruments from 25 countries, as well as an inventive, funny improvisational lyricist. He has collaborated with Leonard Bernstein, Sir James Galway, Dizzy Gillespie,
Langston Hughes, Jack Kerouac, Dustin Hoffman, Willie Nelson, Thelonious Monk, Odetta, Pete Seeger, Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, Charles Mingus, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Lionel Hampton, Johnny Depp, Betty Carter, Tito Puente and Kenneth Radnofsky.
A documentary feature film, David Amram: The First 80 Years, is currently being shown at major music and film festivals throughout the United States and internationally. Directed by Lawrence Kraman, the film includes the New York premier of his Symphonic Variations on a Song by Woody Guthrie and highlights of his comic opera 12th Night and The Final Ingredient, an opera of the
Holocaust.
The Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts Library, has acquired Amram's complete archive and his recent honors include the second annual Pete and Toshi Seeger Power of Song Award and the Jay McShann Lifetime Achievement Award when recently inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.
Today, Amram continues to perform as a guest conductor, soloist and narrator in five languages, while continuing a remarkable pace of composing. Recently acclaimed new works include Three Songs: A Concerto for Piano and Orchestra; and Giants of the Night, a flute concerto commissioned and premiered by Sir James Galway. A Little Rebellion: Thomas Jefferson, a piece for narrator and orchestra, was premiered at
the Kennedy Center with Amram conducting; and Kokopeli, A Symphony in Three Movements, had its world premiere with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, also with Amram conducting.
Press contact for David Amram & Nora Guthrie
Anna Canoni / Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.
