Avner Dorman


Avner Dorman is an Israeli-born composer, educator and conductor.

Education

Dorman holds a doctorate in music composition from the Juilliard School where he studied as a C.V. Starr fellow with John Corigliano. He completed his master's degree at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music of Tel Aviv University studying with former Soviet composer Josef Bardanashvili.

Career

At age 25, Dorman became the youngest composer to win Israel's Prime-Minister's award. He has since been awarded the ACUM prize for his Ellef Symphony. Ma'ariv newspaper in Israel named Dorman "Composer of the Year" for 2002, and the performance of his song cycle "Boaz" received the Israeli Cultural Ministry Prize for best performance of Israeli music the same year. Dorman's "Variations Without a Theme", premiered by Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2003 and won the 2004 Best Composition of the Year award from ACUM. This piece led to a commission from Zubin Mehta, PercaDu, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for "Spices, Perfumes, Toxins!", a concerto for percussion duo and orchestra.
Orchestras that have performed Dorman's music include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In 2006, Naxos Records released an album dedicated to Dorman's piano works with Eliran Avni at the piano. In 2010, Naxos Records released an album dedicated to Dorman's chamber orchestra concerti. Avi Avital's performance of Dorman's "Mandolin Concerto" on this recording was nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award in the category of Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra.
Dorman's debut opera, Wahnfried, was named as a finalist for the 2018 International Opera Awards, in the category of "World Premiere". He was awarded the 2018 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music for his violin concerto, Nigunim, originally written as a violin sonata for violinist Gil Shaham and pianist Orli Shaham.
Dorman is an associate professor of theory and composition at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College. He served as music director of CityMusic Cleveland chamber orchestra from 2013 to 2019.

Compositions

Opera