Music Director
Jeffrey Biegel, piano soloist
The career of pianist Jeffrey Biegel has been marked by bold, creative achievements and highlighted by a series of firsts. He envisioned and performed the first live internet recitals in New York and Amsterdam, enabling him to be seen and heard by a global audience. He assembled the first largest consortium of orchestras to celebrate the millennium with a new concerto composed for him by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The 'Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra', was premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed the World Premiere of the restored, original 1924 manuscript of George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' with the Boston Pops. Tony-award composer Charles Strouse composed 'Concerto America' for Mr. Biegel, celebrating America and honoring the heroes and events of 9-11, premiered with the Boston Pops. He transcribed Balakirev's 'Islamey Fantasy' for piano and orchestra, premiered with the American Symphony Orchestra, and has edited and recorded the first complete set of all '25 Preludes' by Cesar Cui. Mr. Biegel has assembled the first global consortium for the 'Concerto no. 3 for Piano and Orchestra' composed for him by Lowell Liebermann. Concerts include the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Schleswig Holstein Symphony Orchestra, Norkopping Symphony Orchestra plus 17 US orchestras. Mr. Biegel is also the dedicatee of a new work by Danielpour for piano and percussion, touring with the esteemed Canadian percussion ensemble, Nexus.
Until the age of 3, Mr. Biegel was unable to hear nor speak, until corrected by surgery. The 'reverse Beethoven' phenomenon can explain Mr. Biegel's life in music, having heard only vibrations in his formative years. Born a second-generation American, Mr. Biegel's roots are of Russian and Austrian heritage. A Russian cousin, pianist Herman Kosoff, emigrated to the United States in the early 20th century, and had been accepted into the class of the great Leopold Godowsky in Austria. Mr. Biegel's grandmother's cousin, Dr. Sonia Slatin. was a graduate of Columbia University who actively performed and also taught Schenkerian analysis at Brooklyn College.
In addition to his concert activities, Mr. Biegel and his son, Craig, co-composed The World In Our Hands', reflecting the events of 9-11 with a vision for hope and peace. The Hal Leonard Corporation has published this tribute in addition to 'Christmas In A Minute', a choral version of Chopin's 'Minute Waltz', Mr. Biegel's arrangement of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' for SATB divisi a cappella choir and a work for choir with the chosen text, 'Hey Ho, The Wind and the Rain', from William Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'.
PianoDisc has released Mr. Biegel's recordings 'Rare Gems of the Golden Age', 'Best of David Foster1, 'Best of Leroy Anderson' and 'Best of Josh Groban' in his solo piano arrangements. In addition, he has recorded his solo transcription of the complete 'Four Seasons' by Vivaldi along with Grieg's 'Suite in the Antique Style (Holberg)' for Yamaha PianoSoft fordisklavier. Mr. Biegel has recorded the World Premiere of veteran composer Lalo Schifrin's 'Piano Concerto No. 2 - The Americas' with the Bayerischer Rundf unk (Munich Radio Orchestra) for the motion picture soundtrack, 'Something to Believe In'.
Leonard Bernstein said of pianist Jeffrey Biegel: 'He played fantastic Liszt. He is a splendid musician and a brilliant performer.' Jeffrey Biegel was the unanimous recipient of the First Grand Prize in the Marguerite Long International Piano Competition and First Prize in the William Kapell/University of Maryland International Piano Competition. He studied at the Juilliard School with the legendary Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of Josef Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel. Mr. Biegel continues to perform globally with the world's finest orchestras, and teaches at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He resides in New York with his wife, Sharon, and sons Craig and Evan.
Beth Bergman Fisher