News
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Maya and The Magic Ring — first public performance on March 29th at The Midwest Trust Center, Kansas City, MO
Above: Luke Harnish as The Genie (from rehearsal at Lyric Opera Kansas city on March 24, 2025) “Be careful what you wish for!” Maya and The Magic Ring, a new opera for families. This original story is by Dana Gioia with music by Lori Laitman, and it was commissioned by Lyric Opera of Kansas City.…
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Becoming a Redwood — The Songs of Lori Laitman and Dana Gioia Recital
On Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 4 pm at Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, the young artists of Lyric Opera of Kansas City will present a concert featuring the artistic collaboration between Lori Laitman and Dana Gioia. The songs span more than 2 decades, and will also include the world premiere of Majority…
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Premiere recording of The Imaginary Photo Album
The Imaginary Photo Album was commissioned by the BBC and The Royal Philharmonic Society for soprano Katharina Konradi and she and pianist Joseph Middleton premiered the work in Wigmore Hall on October 25, 2020. I am excited to announce that a new mezzo-soprano version has been created, and Katie Leemhuis and Sam Martin will be…
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Washington National Opera Chorus to premiere Standing at the Edge, a new Mary Oliver setting
My new SATB/piano piece, Standing at the Edge, is a setting of Mary Oliver’s poem You Are Standing at the Edge of the Woods. The piece was commissioned by the Washington National Opera Chorus under the direction of Steven Gathman. The premiere is March 2, 2025 at 3 pm St. Anne’s Catholic Church, 4001 Yuma…
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Artist-in-Residence and performance of The Three Feathers at UNLV March 2025
I am thrilled that I will be an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Nevada Las Vegas from March 11-15, 2025. My visit will culminate with a production of The Three Feathers, my fairy-tale opera with librettist Dana Gioia, on March 14 at 7:30 pm and March 15, 2025 at 2 pm at the Judy Bayley…
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Orchestra New England performance of Becoming a Redwood, March 8, 2025
Orchestra New England, conducted by Maestro James Sinclair, will perform Becoming a Redwood, with tenor soloist Thomas Cooley on March 8, 2025 at 7:30 pm at Battell Chapel on the Yale Campus, New Haven, CT. This cycle sets 4 poems by Dana Gioia and this is a new version for chamber orchestra.
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The Russian Chamber Art Society — Concert December 6, 2024 at The French Embassy in Washington, DC
My music, along with works by Margarita Zelenaia, will be presented on The Russian Chamber Art Society Series on December 6, 2024 at 7:30 pm at The French Embassy in Washington, DC. Works will include the American premiere of my song cycle The Imaginary Photo Album, as well as my Holocaust-themed song cycle The Seed…
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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, Best Original Score in the Washington DC International Cinema Festival, received a Silver Medal in Composition at the Global Music Awards, won for Best Song at the Cannes World Film Festival…
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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…