Baritone James Newby and pianist Joseph Middleton — UK recitals with Lori's music

Baritone James Newby and pianist Joseph Middleton will be performing my Being Happy (Dana Gioia setting) along with songs by Britten, Schubert, Casken, Beethoven, Dove and Wallen.

Performances on November 28, 2023 at the Queen’s Hall Arts Centre in Hexham, UK and on November 29, 2023 at the Alnwick Playhouse in Alnwick, UK.

Guest Artist for the Tennessee Chapter of NATS 2023 Fall Event

I will be the guest for The Tennessee Chapter of NATS 2023 Fall Event — “The Songs of Lori Laitman & Female Composers” on October 13 & 14, 2023 at Austin Peay State University at Clarksville, TN. For more information, please click here.

Solo Opera presents The Three Feathers, a magical opera by Lori Laitman and Dana Gioia

Solo Opera presents the West Coast premiere of The Three Feathers at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, CA on September 8, 2023 at 8 pm and September 10, 2023 at 2 pm. Please click here for tickets.

This magical, family-friendly opera is by composer Lori Laitman and librettist Dana Gioia and is based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. Sylvia Amorino is the stage director and producer. Alexander Katsman is the conductor. The San Francisco Girls Chorus (members of San Francisco Girls Chorus School — Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Artistic Director) is featured, along with a phenomenal cast. For more information, please visit soloopera.org.

Shawnette Sulker as Princess Dora, photo credit: Vero Kherian Photography

"Into Eternity" premiere — with Indianapolis Opera

On June 4, 2023, mezzo-soprano Lyndsay Moy and pianist Maria Lyapkova premiered my latest Holocaust-themed work — Into Eternity — as part of Indianapolis Opera's Concert of Art Song presented at the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation.

The song sets the last words of Vilma Grunwald, mother of Holocaust survivor Frank Grunwald. I met Frank in March 2022, when Indianapolis Opera produced Vedem, my Holocaust-themed oratorio. It was then that I learned of this extraordinary letter — and I asked Frank for permission to set it. I composed the work in the summer of 2022, as a gift for Frank and to honor his lost family.

Domenica Bongiovanni of The Indianapolis Star has written a beautiful article about the letter and the premiere.

The video of the premiere, including Frank Grunwald's opening remarks, can be found here.

Coincidentally, Dutch composer Marion von Tilzer has also composed a wonderful setting of the same letter.

Chamber Series NatPhil to include Lori's Dickinson cycles in concert February 12, 2023

The National Philharmonic Chamber Series, curated by Laura Colgate, will present a concert on February 12, 2023 at 3 pm at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC. Soprano Melissa Wimbish and pianist Sophia Kim Cook will perform 2 of my Dickinson cycles: Two Dickinson Songs and Four Dickinson Songs in addition to works by Eric Ewazen, Carson Cooman and Charles Wuorinen. To register for the concert, please click here.