World Premiere, New Recording, and a New Work for Solo Violin
Dear friends, colleagues, and fellow music lovers,
This has been a spring of full-circle moments, great performances, and exciting things on the horizon. Thank you, as always, for reading
The past few months have taken my music to some wonderful places.
A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance came back to life in March with Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony and the Rochester Philharmonic under Andreas Delfs. I have to say — the orchestra just gave it everything. For a piece to be played at that level, with that kind of commitment and connection to the music, is something I'll carry with me for a long time. And they recorded it, which I'm very excited about.
In February, Jerusalem Mix had a lovely run through central Pennsylvania with Market Square Concerts — Harrisburg, Millersburg, and a homecoming performance right here in Gettysburg with Stuart Malina and a superb ensemble. There's something special about hearing your music in your own community.
Lament and Variations continues its remarkable journey with Mackenzie Melemed — from Waco to Salt Lake City to Patagonia, AZ to Mount Vernon, IL this quarter alone. Watching a piece travel this way, finding new audiences in such varied places, is one of the deep joys of writing for a dedicated artist.
Other highlights: Avi Avital performed the Mandolin Concerto in Bucharest with the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra; Cynthia Yeh and the New Bedford Symphony gave a beautiful performance of Eternal Rhythm; and Spices, Perfumes, Toxins! arrives at the Wiener Konzerthaus this April in its new two-pianos and percussion arrangement with the AlFa Duo.
New Recording
I'm so happy to share that The Fifth Element has just been released on Albany Records, performed by the Bowling Green Philharmonia conducted by Emily Freeman Brown — part of The Composer's Voice: New Music from Bowling Green, Vol. 10.
Emily and I go back a long way. She conducted and recorded my Variations Without a Theme back in 2006 — one of my first significant large orchestral performances in the US — and I was at the festival that year. She's married to the wonderful Sam Adler, with whom I studied, and they are both just extraordinary people. Having this new recording in her hands feels like a full-circle moment. You can listen here.
New Commission: Schwung
I'm honored to share that I've been selected as the commissioned composer for the Stuttgart International Violin Competition (Guadagnini Foundation), for which I'm composing a new solo violin work titled Schwung. The piece will serve as a required work for the 2026 competition. There's something uniquely fascinating about writing a compulsory piece — knowing that many different violinists will bring their own personalities and interpretations to the same notes. I'm deep in the process and genuinely excited by where it's going.
Looking Ahead
Mackenzie Melemed continues the Lament and Variations tour through April and into summer, with stops in Lawrence, KS, Cleveland, and eventually Finland in July. In late April, Tanyaderas travels to Brazil with the Orquestra Goiânia, and in May, Min Kwon performs A Variation on America the Beautiful at Meany Center in Seattle.
The centerpiece of the coming months is the world premiere of Inner Fire (Cello Concerto No. 2) on June 21 at Jordan Hall in Boston, with the incomparable Kristina Reiko Cooper and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project under Gil Rose. The concerto explores the ancient connection between breath and soul — Neshima and Neshama in Hebrew, two words that share the same root. In a time of so much uncertainty, this five-movement work feels more urgent to me than ever: it is, at heart, a meditation on the inner resilience that human beings have always carried within them.
Also this summer: Duo Gambelin gives the world premiere of Rhapsody on Diwan Songs at the York Early Music Festival (July 8), followed by a German premiere days later.
Thank you so much for reading. I hope to see you at a concert soon.
Warmly,
Avner
Recent Highlights
-
A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance
: Concerto for Two Violins and Strings
(2025)
· Details
- A Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance — March 22, 2026 ; Kodak Hall (Rochester, NY) — Gil Shaham; Adele Anthony; Rochester Philharmonic conducted by Andreas Delfs · More info
+1 more in last 6 months -
Jerusalem Mix
(2007)
· Details
- Jerusalem Mix — February 19, 2026 ; Chapel of United Lutheran Seminary (Gettysburg, PA) — Stuart Malina (Piano); Andreas Oeste (Oboe); David DiGiacobbe (Flute); Eric Just (Clarinet); Joseph Grimmer (Bassoon); Jonathan Clark (Horn) · More info
+3 more in last 6 months -
Lament and Variations
: for Solo Piano
(2024)
· Details
- Lament and Variations — April 20, 2026 ; Steinway Gallery (Cleveland, OH) — Mackenzie Melemed · More info
+14 more in last 6 months - The Fifth Element (2022) · Details
Upcoming Performances
- World Premiere of Inner Fire in Boston, MA, USA — June 21, 2026 at 3:00 PM · Jordan Hall — Kristina Reiko Cooper, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose, conductor · More info
- World Premiere of Rhapsody on Diwan Songs in York, England — July 8, 2026 · York Early Music Festival — Duo Gambelin · More info
- Lament and Variations in Kimito, Finland — July 10, 2026 · Kimito Church — Mackenzie Melemed · More info
Spotlight Work
Inner Fire — 2.2.2(bcl).2/2.2.0.0/timp.2perc/str
Inner Fire Concerto for Cello and Orchestra When Kristina Reiko Cooper and I began discussing this concerto, we found ourselves drawn to the metaphor of fire—not just as a destructive force, but as something deeply human and transformative. Fire provides warmth and comfort, it can rage out of control, and it exists within us as a source of energy and spirit. The Hebrew words neshima (breath) and neshama (soul) share the same linguistic root, and practices like Tummo meditation generate inner heat through focused breathing. This connection between breath, fire, and transformation became the guiding principle for the work's five-movement structure. A single melodic gesture—Bb, Cb, Eb, D (intervals of +1, +4, -1)—threads through all five movements, unifying the concerto's emotional and spiritual journey. This motif appears in various guises: as prayer, as dance, as fury, and ultimately as disciplined inner energy. Invocation opens with a sustained orchestral pedal over which the solo cello enters with an intense, prayer-like call—something between the depth of "Out of the depths I cry to you" and the clarion call of a muezzin. The orchestra responds heterophonically, layering individual voices in a texture of spiritual contemplation. As the movement progresses, the music gradually becomes more fluid and gentle, as if the initial cry has been heard and answered. Ignition bursts forth with perpetual-motion energy. While largely maintaining a driving forward momentum, the movement includes moments of contrast before returning to its kinetic core. Like the first movement, it concludes with a distant echo—as if the flame, once ignited, continues to flicker even as it recedes. Wildfire unleashes the most rhythmically complex music of the concerto. Though notated primarily in 6/8 and 9/8, polyrhythms and rhythmic illusions create an unstable, dangerous energy—imagine the elfin lightness of Romantic scherzo colliding with the metric complexity of progressive metal. The music threatens to consume everything in its path. Hearth offers respite. The first half luxuriates in rich harmonies—open chords, overtone clusters, and spacious textures that evoke warmth and safety. The second half transforms into a minor-mode fugue, with entries gradually building through the orchestra. Here, fire becomes the center of communal gathering, a source of reflection and comfort. The finale, Inner Fire, draws directly on Tummo meditation practice. A repeating rhythmic motif—two sixteenth notes followed by a pizzicato on the cello's open C and G strings—mimics the pattern of breath: in, out, in, out, in, out, in...hold...in. This simple gesture grows and transforms throughout the movement, building energy through additive processes while maintaining fierce momentum. The orchestra gradually joins the soloist's journey, and the music rises to an ecstatic release—not through frenzy, but through disciplined accumulation of inner power. Inner Fire runs approximately 25-30 minutes and was composed for Kristina Reiko Cooper and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. — Avner Dorman