Meyer Kupferman

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Meyer Kupferman (born July 2, 1926 in New York City , † November 26, 2003 in Rhinebeck (New York) ) was an American clarinetist, composer and music teacher whose compositions were influenced by his Eastern European origins and jazz .

Life

Kupferman began his career as a jazz musician; he performed in clubs and bars in the Coney Island area and arranged for jazz bands in the 1940s. He studied music theory , chamber music and orchestral music at the New York High School of Music and Art and Queens College . As a composer, however, he was self-taught . His early opera In a Garden was performed in Tanglewood and at the Edinburgh Festival . From the end of the 1950s he incorporated the twelve-tone technique into his compositions; he used ostinatos and elements of improvisation .

Kupferman wrote six symphonies, six works for string quartet and three operas. Starting with his Sonata with jazz elements (1958), numerous atonal works were created that took up jazz elements. Some of them were designed for classical musicians; some works, such as his Jazz Symphony (1988), also required a combination of classical orchestral musicians and jazz soloists. Full-time, he taught 1951-1993 at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers composition where he led an improvisation ensemble. Binnette Lipper and Michael Small are among his students .

His music has seen numerous international performances and recordings, including a. by the American Composers Orchestra . Clarinetist Charles Neidich performed his solo clarinet work Moonflowers, Baby . Kupferman made a guest appearance with his Jazz String Quartet during the Johnson era at the White House. His Violin Fantasy was performed by Itzhak Perlman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art . He also worked with Martha Graham and Pearl Lang and as a film composer for films such as Explosion des Schweigens (1961), Black Like Me (1964), Hallelujah the Hills and the Truman Capote Adaption Trilogy (1969). In 1992 he published his textbook Atonal jazz: A Systematic Approach to Atonal Jazz Improvisation.

Kupferman has received numerous awards, including from the Guggenheim Foundation. His estate is kept at Lincoln Center .

Works (selection)

  • Concertino for 11 Brass Instruments
  • Infinities Twenty-Two for Trumpet & Piano
  • Kierkegaard for Four (4) Tubas
  • Madrigal for Brass Quartet. (2) Trumpets & (2) Trombones
  • Mega rare atonality
  • Pico (among the smallest particles) for Piano
  • Short Suite: Second Thoughts
  • Symphony Variations Ostinato 1964
  • 3 Non-Objectives for Piano

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Obituary for Local 802
  2. ^ Review / Music; A Dialogue Between Jazz and Symphony (New York Times)
  3. ↑ Meyer Kupferman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data
SURNAME Kupferman, Meyer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer, initially also a jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 2003
Place of death Rhinebeck (New York)