David Hertzberg

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David Hertzberg (born January 14, 1990) is an American composer of chamber, orchestral, and operatic music. He has received significant critical attention for his two site-specific operas, The Wake World[1] and The Rose Elf,[2] for which he wrote both music and libretto.

Early life and education (1990–2015)[edit]

Hertzberg was born in Los Angeles, where he studied music at the Colburn School, before attending the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Massachusetts. In 2008, he attended the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in Darmstadt, Germany. He received his Bachelors and Masters of Music degrees from The Juilliard School in 2012 and 2013, respectively. There he studied composition with Samuel Adler.[3] In 2015 he received an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music.[4]

In 2011, while a student at Juilliard, his cantata Nympharum was premiered by soprano Jennifer Zetlan and the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky, at Alice Tully Hall.[5] In 2013, the New Juilliard Ensemble premiered his sinfonietta femminina, oscura, also at Alice Tully Hall.[6]

Career (2015-present)[edit]

In 2015, Hertzberg's chamber work Orgie-Céleste[7] was premiered at Merkin Hall in New York, as part of his tenure as Composer-in-Residence at Young Concert Artists.[8] In 2016, his cantata Sunday Morning, originally commissioned through Gotham Chamber Opera,[9] was premiered at Lincoln Center by New York City Opera.[10][11] In 2014,[12] 2015,[13] 2016,[14] and 2019,[15] he had chamber works premiered on the Concert Artist Guild recital series at Carnegie Hall. In the spring of 2017, the American Composers Orchestra premiered his Chamber Symphony at Carnegie Hall.[16][17]

From 2015-2018, he served as Composer-in-Residence for Opera Philadelphia.[4] In September 2017, the company premiered his opera The Wake World, based on the eponymous story by Aleister Crowley, to wide critical acclaim.[18][19][20][21] The opera was staged at the Barnes Foundation, and featured an often wordless chamber choir. Hertzberg was subsequently nominated for Newcomer of the Year at the International Opera Awards.[22] The Wake World went on to win the Music Critics Association of North America Award for Best New Opera.[23]

In June 2018, his chamber opera The Rose Elf, based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen, premiered in the catacombs of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.[2][24][25] Discussing the unusual venue and presentation of the opera in The New York Observer, James Jorden wrote, "If on paper the event threatened a level of bizarrerie sufficient to daunt Taylor Mac, in real time this presentation... turned out to be just about everything you want opera to be. The Rose Elf shocked, confounded, disturbed, and, in the end, exalted."[26] Following the premiere, WQXR cited The Rose Elf as the "Opera Event of the Half Year".[27] The Rose Elf was later named among "New York's Most Memorable Concerts of 2018"[28] and given Operavore's annual "Freddie" Award for Best New Opera.[29]

On April 24, 2020, a studio recording of The Wake World was released on Tzadik Records.[30][31][32] The New York Times listed a track from the album among the 25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2020.[33] On October 31, 2020, an album of The Rose Elf was released by Swan Studios.[34][35] Opera News named it as one of the 5 Best New Works of 2021.[36] In January 2022, Pittsburgh Opera presented a new production of The Rose Elf.[37]

In January 2023, The Washington Post listed him among their "Composers and Performers to Watch".[38] That spring, he served as Musician in Residence for Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C..[39]

He has been a resident at MacDowell in 2019,[40] and Yaddo in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2024.[41]

Critical reception[edit]

Hertzberg has received critical attention for his musical language, which critics have cited for its decadence[42][43] and compared to various fin-de-siècle and modernist composers and artists, as well as those of the pre-and-post-war avant-garde.

Writing in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Peter Dobrin described Hertzberg's saxophone quartet murmurations as "strikingly original", noting that the work's harmonic language "grows out of non-serial Berg and Schoenberg but, in the ghostly way it revealed itself, resembled little else."[44].

Of Hertzberg's chamber work Orgie-Céleste, Anthony Tommasini wrote in The New York Times, "a vibrantly personal style."[8]

Reviewing Hertzberg's cantata Sunday Morning in The New York Times, Zachary Woolfe commented on the work's delicacy, comparing it to the paintings of Robert Ryman and describing music that "begins with sunrise ethereality...and remains raptly restrained even as it condenses and blooms."[11]

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Heidi Waleson described the music in Hertzberg's opera The Wake World as having "the sheen and muscle of Strauss wedded to the diaphanous spirit of Debussy, but with a distinctly modern edge".[20] Covering the same work in The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini noted, "The score, spiked with modernist elements, makes Mr. Hertzberg seem like a 21st century Ravel."[19]

Discussing the 2020 recording of The Wake World in Opera, John Rockwell wrote, "Hertzberg's poetic text is positively lurid; it makes Wilde's Salome sound downright prosaic."[45] Rockwell continues to identify numerous references he perceives in the music and libretto, including Daphnis et Chloé, Pelléas et Mélisande, Die Frau Ohne Schatten, the Rhinemaidens, Lulu, Bluebeard's Castle, Alice in Wonderland and Orlando, before concluding "Yet for all of that, Hertzberg's opera sounds completely original."

Hertzberg has cited Richard Wagner and Kabbalah as influences on his music.[3]

Awards[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Dobrin, Peter (2018-04-09). "Opera Philadelphia and David Hertzberg win 'best new opera' for 017 commission". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2024-03-26. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  2. ^ a b Lubow, Arthur (June 1, 2018). "Is Opera Dying? No, But This One Is Staged Among the Dead". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 1, 2022. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Weiser, Alex (October 19, 2016). "Mysticism and Instinct: Spotlight on Composer David Hertzberg". YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Archived from the original on 2024-03-31. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  4. ^ a b "Meet Composer in Residence David Hertzberg". Opera Philadelphia. June 23, 2015. Archived from the original on 2023-05-29. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  5. ^ "Classical Music/Opera Listings for April 1-7". The New York Times. 2011-03-31. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2024-03-31. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  6. ^ Woolfe, Zachary (2013-04-16). "A Finale, Firsts Included". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2024-03-31. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  7. ^ Tommasini, Anthony (September 22, 2017). "Rising Star: The Week's 8 Best Classical Music Moments on YouTube". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Tommasini, Anthony (February 18, 2015). "Review: The Composers Concert, With David Hertzberg and Other Young Masters". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  9. ^ Cooper, Michael (2014-08-03). "Gotham Chamber Opera Hands Out Music Award". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  10. ^ "New York City Opera Concerts Sunday Morning". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  11. ^ a b Woolfe, Zachary (March 18, 2016). "Review: New York City Opera, a Quiet 'Sunday Morning'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  12. ^ Schweitzer, Vivien (February 12, 2014). "While Earth May Tremble, This Pianist Is Unlikely To". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  13. ^ "STEVEN LIN AT CARNEGIE HALL". Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  14. ^ Tommasini, Anthony (April 27, 2016). "Review: At 20, In Mo Yang Makes His New York Recital Debut". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 4, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  15. ^ "Dominic Cheli Recital". Carnegie Hall. Archived from the original on 2023-11-30. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  16. ^ "American Composers Orchestra". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 2024-03-31. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  17. ^ Tommasini, Anthony (March 26, 2017). "Review: An American Composers Orchestra Concert Pays a Bracing Tribute". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  18. ^ Dobrin, Peter (2017-09-19). "O17 hits the Barnes with a hallucinatory fairy tale". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  19. ^ a b Tommasini, Anthony (September 20, 2017). "5 Operas in 72 Hours: A Philadelphia Festival Is a Test of Survival". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 14, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  20. ^ a b Waleson, Heidi. "An Opera Fest to Binge On". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  21. ^ Sohre, James (2017-09-23). "Fantasy in Philadelphia: The Wake World". Opera Today. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  22. ^ "2018". Opera Awards. 2018-01-29. Archived from the original on 2024-02-13. Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  23. ^ Salazar, Francisco (2018-04-10). "David Hertzberg Wins The Music Critics Association of North America". OperaWire. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  24. ^ Fowler, Damian (June 5, 2018). "First Look at The Rose Elf in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery". Playbill. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  25. ^ Herman, Charlie (June 6, 2018). "An Night of Opera in the Green-Wood Cemetery". WNYC, New York Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  26. ^ Jorden, James (2018-06-11). "New Opera 'The Rose Elf' Offers Morbid Enchantment". Observer. Archived from the original on 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  27. ^ Stearns, David Patrick (2018-06-28). "The Best Concerts of 2018 (So Far) | WQXR Editorial". WQXR. Archived from the original on 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  28. ^ Stearns, David Patrick (2018-12-02). "New York's Most Memorable Concerts of 2018 | WQXR Editorial". WQXR. Archived from the original on 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  29. ^ Plotkin, Fred (2018-12-18). "The Sixth Annual Excellence in Opera (aka The Freddie) Awards | Operavore". WQXR. Archived from the original on 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  30. ^ Ruel, Chris (2020-05-20). "Off the Beaten Track: David Hertzberg's Hallucinatory 'The Wake World' Serves Up a Sonic Feast". OperaWire. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  31. ^ Fairman, Richard. "Opera Philadelphia: David Hertzberg: The Wake World — sumptuous array of sounds". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  32. ^ Perdian, Rick (April 30, 2020). "Need to escape reality? Enter into the magical world of composer David Hertzberg". Seen and Heard International. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  33. ^ Tommasini, Anthony (December 17, 2020). "The 25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2020". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  34. ^ Winn, Steven (October 23, 2020). "A New Recording of The Rose Elf Is Right in Time for Halloween". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  35. ^ Zahr, Oussama (November 9, 2020). "The Rose Elf". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  36. ^ Cadagin, Joe (January 2022). "Best of 2021". Opera News. The Metropolitan Opera Guild.
  37. ^ Perdian, Rick (January 30, 2022). "Pittsburgh Opera captures the beauty and magic in David Hertzberg's The Rose Elf". Seen and Heard International. Archived from the original on 2024-03-31. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  38. ^ Brodeur, Michael Andor (2023-01-20). "Perspective | 23 for '23: Composers and performers to watch this year". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  39. ^ Briggs, Jenn. "Past Residents". Dumbarton Oaks. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  40. ^ "MACDOWELL COLONY AWARDS FELLOWSHIPS TO EIGHTY-SIX ARTISTS". Artforum. 2019-01-22. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  41. ^ "Our Artists". Yaddo. Archived from the original on 2023-12-16. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  42. ^ Cadagin, Joe (August 10, 2020). "An Operatic Premiere Redolent of the Decadent Early 20th Century". San Francisco Classical Voice. Archived from the original on 2024-03-29. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  43. ^ Power, Steph (July 23, 2020). "David Hertzberg: The Wake World". BBC Music Magazine. Archived from the original on 2024-04-06. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
  44. ^ Dobrin, Peter (2015-05-25). "Review: Prism offers a festival of premieres". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2024-03-31. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  45. ^ Rockwell, John (August 2020). "Disc of the Month: The Wake World, Hertzberg". Opera.
  46. ^ "David Hertzberg". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Archived from the original on 2024-03-26. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
  47. ^ "All Awards". American Academy of Arts and Letters. Archived from the original on 2024-03-30. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  48. ^ Bash, James (2018-04-09). "Hertzberg Wins New Opera Honor For 'Wake World'". Classical Voice North America. Archived from the original on 2024-03-26. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
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