News
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NOA/NATS 2025 Conference
I’m so pleased to announce that I will be presenting at the NOA/NATS 2025 Conference in Savannah, GA, January 5-8, 2025. Uncovered‘s librettist Leah Lax, stage director & dramaturg Beth Greenberg and I will be part of Casey Robards’ panel “Centering Women’s Voices — New Works by Lori Laitman, Anthony Plog and Bruce Trinkley.” Several…
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THE APPLE ORCHARD and SARONG SONG — film awards
Since its release in March 2024, The Apple Orchard film won Best Music Score for Short Film at the 2025 Berlin Kiez Film Festival, received a Silver Medal in Composition at the Global Music Awards, won for Best Song at the Cannes World Film Festival for Best Song, won Honorable Mention at the Mindfield Film…
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NATS 2024 Conference in Knoxville, TN
On June 29, 2024, Lori will moderate Coffee with Composers, interviewing Jodi Goble, the 2024 winner of the NATS Art Song Composition Contest. Later in the day, Lori and Laura Schwendinger will participate in “The Composer and Singer Relationship: A Town Hall to Demystify Creating New Art Song,” moderated by André Chiang. On June 30,…
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The Apple Orchard – YouTube Premiere
Positive Note Films is delighted to announce the YouTube Premiere of a new film: The Apple Orchard with Music by Lori Laitman, Poetry by Dana Gioia and Illustrations by Ian Beck. The online premiere was March 22, 2024. The film alternates between a performance of Laitman’s melodic music by tenor Daniel Norman and pianist Simon…
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3 recent CDs featuring Lori’s music
Soprano Laura Strickling’s 40@40 CD was released on the Bright Shiny Things label on August 18, 2023. Accompanied by pianist Daniel Schlosberg, the CD features the first 20 of the 40 compositions Laura commissioned for her 40th birthday. Lori’s song, Thanks a Latte, to a poem by Caitlin Vincent, is included. Lori Laitman sets Caitlin…
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Featured artist with Cincinnati Song Initiative and The Hartt School, April 2024
From April 2 – 5, 2024, I will be the featured guest when the Cincinnati Song Initiative (CSI) and The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, overseen by Sam Martin, join forces for a festival of American song. The spotlight concert will feature my songs. For more information please click here.
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This, and My Heart — Dickinson portrait, October 2023 with The Verdi Chorus
The California Verdi Chorus celebrates its 40th season this year and will on October 15, 2023 will present “This, and My Heart” — a portrait of Emily Dickinson, which includes music by Tom Cipullo, Steve Heitzeg and myself. For more information please click here.
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Mezzo-soprano Marie Seidler and pianist Wolfram Rieger concert in Berlin, March 2024 to include Lori’s music
Mezzo-soprano Marie Seidler and pianist Wolfram Rieger will be performing my She Died (Emily Dickinson) on March 16, 2024 at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, Germany. Also on the program are songs by Mussorgsky, Mahler, Poulenc, Duparc, Ravel, Ives, Barber, Smyth, Eisler, Barbara and Weill. For tickets, please click here.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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“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…
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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,…
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Music of Remembrance’s online premiere of Wertheim Park
My Holocaust work, Wertheim Park, to Susan de Sola’s haunting poem about Dutch Jews murdered in the Holocaust, was commissioned by Music of Remembrance to celebrate its 25th season. The piece premiered in Benaroya Recital Hall in Seattle, WA last October 30, 2022 with soprano Alisa Jordheim, clarinetist Laura DeLuca, violinist Mikhail Shmidt, double bassist Jonathan…
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U.S. Air Forces in Europe Band to present excerpts from Lori’s “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” for International Holocaust Remembrance Day
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2023, soprano Aliyah Richling and saxophonist Joseph Rulli will perform excerpts from Lori’s 1996 song cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly — which sets poems by children who were killed in the Holocaust. Video of their performance will stream on the band’s social media sites: On Facebook…
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Melvin Chen to premiere Lori’s “Across Time” January 18, 2023 on the Horowitz Piano Series at Yale
I am thrilled that Melvin Chen will premiere my new solo piano piece, Across Time, on his January 18, 2023 recital in Morse Recital Hall at Yale University as part of the Horowitz Piano Series. Melvin commissioned this variation of Diabelli’s 1819 waltz back in December of 2019. The original premiere date was postponed several times…
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Sarong Song recognized at film festivals
My Sarong Song film is getting noticed at film festivals worldwide. Sarong Song is song #2 of The Soul Fox, a song cycle composed in 2013 by Lori Laitman to a poem by David Mason, her frequent collaborator. The cycle set Mason’s autobiographical poems to create a narrative about the upheaval in Dave’s life…
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Textura.org names The Ocean of Eternity #4 on Top 20 Classical Vocal CDs of 2022
The Ocean of Eternity is #4 of Textura.org‘s Top 20 Classical Vocal CDs of 2022 List! American composer Lori Laitman has issued numerous art song-oriented albums since her 2000 debut album Mystery, which might make it difficult to choose one over another. Yet in bringing together multiple strands of her music-making, The Ocean of Eternity presents a…
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Sarong Song film recognized at film festivals
The film of my song Sarong Song, made in conjunction with Positive Note Films of the UK, is being recognized at various film festivals worldwide. As of November 9, 2022, the film is a nominee at the Swedish International Film Festival, a finalist at the 4theatre Film Festival, and was selected to be included in…
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City Lyric Opera to premiere Uncovered in New York City November 16-19, 2022
What: City Lyric Opera’s UNCOVEREDWhen: Wednesday-Friday, November 16-18 @ 8:30 p.m. EST, Saturday, November 19 @ 4:00 p.m. EST and ] @ 8:30 p.m.Where: HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Avenue, Manhattan, 10013Trains: C/E Spring St., 1 Houston St., N/R Prince St.Tickets: $35. For more information or to purchase tix, call 212.647.0202 or visit HERE.org. One of New York City’s most…
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Sarong Song film premiere, Saturday, September 17, 2022 1 pm EST
The premiere of Sarong Song, my short film made in conjunction with Positive Note Films in the UK, will premiere September 17, 2022 at 1 pm EST at the following YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDWBcvC1GgM The film will remain up at the link after the premiere. Sarong Song is song #2 of The Soul Fox, a song cycle…
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The Collaborative Piano Institute — interview 6.8.22
I’m honored that on June 8, 2022 I’ll be discussing my music with Korliss Uecker of The Collaborative Piano Institute, followed by a Q and A session with the students. Musical examples will be included, including a private showing of my soon-to-be-released film, made in conjunction with Positive Note of my Sarong Song, from The…
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The Silver Swan — over the centuries
In 2007, Dr. Carol Kimball asked me to set The Silver Swan. I was most reluctant to do so, because I thought the original Orlando Gibbons madrigal setting was so beautiful and so perfect. It was only my love for Carol that allowed me to proceed — and the song’s birth was difficult. I threw…
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13th Annual International Art Song Competition in Stuttgart, Germany
I’m thrilled to learn that I am one of the women composers included as suggested repertoire for the 13th Annual International Art Song Competition in Stuttgart, Germany. This competition is one of the oldest in the German speaking world and is sponsored by the International Hugo Wolf Academy. Traditional composers represented include Franz Schubert, Hugo…