News
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Piano Commission from Dr. Melvin Chen, Professor of Piano at Yale School of Music
In early December 2019, Melvin Chen, who serves as Professor of Piano at The Yale School of Music (as well as Deputy Dean and Director of the Yale Summer School of Music), wrote to see if I had any interest in participating in a project involving the commission of a new set of Diabelli Variations to be composed…
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Recording with baritone Stephen Powell
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Naxos released a double CD “Living in the Body — Songs of Lori Laitman” on December 13, 2019
On December 13, 2019, Naxos will release a double CD of Lori’s songs entitled “Living in the Body
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GUEST ARTIST AT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
I am thrilled that I will be the Guest Artist Master Class Clinician at George Mason University as part of the Fall 2019 Vocal Studies/Opera Division Master Class Series. I will be conducting master classes on November 19 and November 21, 2019 at 3 pm at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall at…
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BBC/Royal Philharmonic Society commission for soprano Katharina Konradi
I am thrilled to announce that the BBC and The Royal Philharmonic Society have commissioned a song cycle for their “New Generation Artist” Katharina Konradi. The work will center around the themes of parenthood and childhood, and will feature the poetry of A.E. Stallings and another well-known female poet, whose name I will release after…
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Steamboat Opera to present The Three Feathers in August 2020
I am thrilled to announce that Steamboat Opera, under the Artistic Direction of Maestro Andres Cladera, will present The Three Feathers from August 7-9, 2020 in Steamboat Springs, CO. Based on a little known tale by the Brothers Grimm, with a libretto by Dana Gioia, this magical opera presents a young female protagonist, Princess Dora, as…
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Indianapolis Opera to present Vedem with Brundibar in April 2020
UPDATE: This production will be postponed to spring 2021, due to the Coronavirus. Indianapolis Opera will present a semi-staged version of my Holocaust-themed oratorio Vedem in a double bill with Hans Krasa’s Brundibar from April 24-26, 2020. Vedem tells the story of the boys imprisoned in the infamous Terezin Concentration Camp during WWII, and their…
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Opera at UC Irvine to present THE SCARLET LETTER in MAY 2020
POSTPONED DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR INFO ON RESCHEDULED DATES. I am thrilled to announce that The Opera Department at UC Irvine in California will present The Scarlet Letter May 9-10, 2020. The presentation will be under the artistic direction of Dr. Darryl Taylor with Dr. Stephen Tucker conducting. For more…
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Review of “Hands” premiere by Chicago Classical Review
The Grant Park Chorus, under the director of Christopher Bell, premiered my choral work “Hands” on July 18, 2019 at the Columbus Park Refectory in Chicago. The piece sets the poetry of Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962). This particular poem was written in response to Jeffers’ visit to the ancient Esselen people’s “Cave of the Hands” near…
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New Mary Oliver choral work commission
The Donald Sinclair Sutherland Music Endowment for the Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir, under the director of Matthew Robertson, has commissioned a new choral work to premiere in early March 2020. Early in my career, Mary Oliver granted me permission to set many of her poems. For this commission, I chose to set her…
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The Royal Conservatory 2019 Voice Series Anthology
I am thrilled that the 2019 Edition of The Royal Conservatory’s Voice Anthology includes my Emily Dickinson song If I…. This song is the last of my Four Dickinson Songs. My father, Milton Abraham Laitman, lived to be almost 100. This song was written as a birthday gift for his 80th birthday. It has become…
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Edinburgh Fringe Festival performances mark the Scottish premiere of The Ocean of Eternity
Soprano Sally Carr, clarinetist Calum Robertson and pianist Anna Michels will be presenting the Scottish premiere of my song cycle The Ocean of Eternity (in a new arrangement for voice, clarinet and piano) at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The cycle sets the poetry of Sri Lankan poet Anne Ranasinghe. All concerts are in Edinburgh –…
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Upcoming production of The Three Feathers in Singapore
L’Arietta Productions will be producing the abridged version of The Three Feathers from November 18-24, 2019 under the artistic direction of Akiko Otao Larietta. This will mark the first time an opera composed by a woman will be performed in Singapore! Commissioned by the Center for the Arts at VA Tech, the opera is a re-telling of a Grimm’s…
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Lullaby selected for inclusion in NewMusicShelf’s Alto Saxophone Anthology
Lullaby, composed in 2000 for saxophonist Gary Louie and pianist Kirsten Taylor, was selected to be part of NewMusicShelf’s Alto Saxophone Anthology. Also included are 15 other works by Stephanie Ann Boyd, Wes Flinn, Nick Gianopoulos, Anthony Green, Chiayu Hsu, Quinn Mason, Aaron Jay Myers, Garrett Shatzer, Clare Shore, Aleks Sternfeld-Dunn, Cassie Wieland, Chelsea Williamson,…
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Dual premieres for Partial Lunar Eclipse, SATB and piano
I have been jointly commissioned by the Alexandria Choral Society with Brian Isaac, Artistic Director and Virginia Choral Society with Sarah Gallo, Artistic Director, to re-envision my song Partial Lunar Eclipse (poem by Anne Ranasinghe) from the cycle And Music Will Not End. Two premieres are scheduled: The Virginia Choral Society will premiere the work on May 4, 2019 at 4 pm…
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City Lyric Opera presents music of Lori Laitman on their Salon Series, March 6, 2019
City Lyric Opera presented a recital of Lori Laitman songs at the home of Beth and Larry Lenke on the evening of March 6, 2019 in New York City. In the days leading to the recital, Lori coached all the young performers, giving them first-hand insight into each of the compositions. A review of the…
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The Ocean of Eternity premiere now online
The Ocean of Eternity, my song cycle to the poetry of Anne Ranasinghe, premiered February 9, 2019 at the National Opera Center, with soprano Yungee Rhie, saxophonist Michael Couper and pianist ChoEun Lee (all of whom commissioned the work). Video of the premiere is available by clicking here. I say a few words about the…
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songSLAM in Chicago April 14, 2019 – Hosted by Lori Laitman
songSLAM is an art song composition competition created by Sparks & Wiry Cries. The Fourth Coast Ensemble will be presenting this event at The Promontory in Chicago at 6 pm, with Lori as the EmCee. Ten composer/singer/pianist teams will present a new art song to compete to win $2000 in prize money. During the deliberations,…
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Journey for violin and piano now available on MusicaNeo
Journey started out as a song with words — and the original poem was about a slave mother’s harsh reality as she traveled on a slave boat from Africa. Due to a misunderstanding with the poet, permission to set the poem was withdrawn. I first reworked the song as a solo for saxophone with piano…
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Live stream of Premiere of “The Ocean of Eternity” — February 9, 2019, National Opera Center, 7:30 pm ET
The Ocean of Eternity, my new song cycle for soprano, soprano saxophone and piano, will premiere February 9, 2019 at 7:30 pm at the National Opera Center in New York City. To watch the live stream, please click here. The piece was commissioned by soprano Yungee Rhie, saxophonist Michael Couper and pianist ChoEun Lee, and…
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Grant Park Music Festival Chorus Commission – premiering July 18 and 22, 2019
I am thrilled to announce that I have been commissioned to write an a cappella chorus piece for The Grant Park Musical Festival Chorus with director Christopher Bell. The work will premiere July 18,2019 at the Columbus Park Refectory and will be repeated on July 22 at the South Shore Cultural Center in Chicago, IL. The commission celebrates…
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Journey for alto saxophone and piano – now available on MusicaNeo
Journey started out as a song. Due to a misunderstanding with the poet, permission to set the poem was withdrawn. I then reworked the song as a solo for saxophone and piano. The poem was about a slave mother’s harsh reality as she traveled on a slave boat from Africa, so I felt the timbre of…
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Lullaby for alto saxophone and piano – now available on MusicaNeo
Lullaby, a short, sweet piece that I composed in 2000 for saxophonist Gary Louie and pianist Kirsten Taylor, is now availabe for sale here. Gary and Kirsten recently recorded this work for me. It will be on my upcoming double CD from Naxos, which has a tentative release date of December 2019.