Artist Profile
Jeffrey Biegel
On Our Show: December 17, 2011Birth Year: 1961
Origin: Queens, NY
Website: www.jeffreybiegel.com
Instruments: composition|piano
Genres: classical|traditional
About Jeffrey Biegel:
Jeffrey Biegel has created a multi-faceted career as a pianist, recording artist, composer and arranger. Born a second-generation American, Mr. Biegel’s roots are of Russian and Austrian heritage. Until the age of three, Mr. Biegel could neither 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 early years. He studied at The Juilliard School with the legendary artist/teacher Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of Josef Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel. He made his New York orchestral debut performing Prokofiev’s “Concerto no. 2 in g minor” with the Juilliard Philharmonia, in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.
His electrifying technique and mesmerizing touch has received critical acclaim and garners praise worldwide. Known for his standard-setting performances of the standard repertoire, Mr. Biegel’s current performances include his adaptation of pop legend Neil Sedaka’s ‘Manhattan Intermezzo’ for piano and orchestra with Orchestra Kentucky, and the World Premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s “Shadows” for piano and orchestra, with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra leading the consortium project with several orchestras. His recent recordings include A Steinway Christmas Album and, Bach On A Steinway, Leroy Anderson’sConcerto in C, conducted by Leonard Slatkin with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Millennium Fantasy and Peanuts Gallery, a solo cd of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Classical Carols and the Complete Sonatas by Mozart. An avid composer, Biegel and his son, Craig, co-composed “The World In Our Hands,” which reflects the events of 9-11 with a vision for hope and peace, and has been performed in Africa, Ireland, and throughout the U.S.
In 2010, he performed two world premieres with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Carl St. Clair: Richard Danielpour’s “Mirrors for Piano and Orchestra,” and, William Bolcom’s “Prometheus for Piano, Orchestra and Chorus.” Mr. Biegel has also created Trio21, being joined with violinist Kinga Augustyn and cellist Robert deMaine.
In the late 1990′s, he initiated the first live internet recitals in New York and Amsterdam, and assembled a consortium of more than 25 orchestras to celebrate the millennium with the premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s “Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra.” In 2006, Biegel joined 18 co-commissioning orchestras for Lowell Liebermann’s Concerto no. 3 for Piano and Orchestra. He has played premieres of new works and arrangements with the Boston Pops, New York Pops, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, as well as the symphony orchestras of Minnesota, Indianapolis, and Harrisburg, among others.
Biegel’s published works include The World In Our Hands, Christmas In A Minute, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Hey Ho, the Wind and the Rain,Hanukah Fantasy, Different Kind of Hero, and Elegy of Anne Boleyn. His most recent composition is There Shines a Light Ahead for SATB chorus, soprano soloist and piano to premiere by the Mt. Sinai High School Choir in New York.
His awards include the First Grand Prize in the 1989 Marguerite Long International Piano Competition and the First Prize in the 1985 William Kapell/University of Maryland International Piano Competition. Biegel is currently on the piano faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, a City University of New York (CUNY), and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY).
(All information adapted from artist website.)