THE HOME PAGE OF

Composer/Conductor/Multi-instrumentalist
"The renaissance man of American music"
.... The Boston Globe


···See Amram In Action···

Newly posted videos for the first time of Amram on YouTube, conducting and performing in symphonic concerts with Montreal, Chicago and Brooklyn Philharmonic, in concert with Dizzy Gillespie, Willie Nelson, Candido, Paquito de Rivera, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, and his own jazz and Middle Eastern ensembles, and readings of Kerouac with music and news stories.

···Pianist Nakamatsu and Symphony Silicon Valley debut spellbinding Amram concerto···

By Richard Scheinin

Mercury News

So here we are plunging into the worst economic times in 80 years. Banks are tumbling, arts groups are folding -- and Symphony Silicon Valley is forging ahead with the most ambitious project in its seven-season history.

Thursday night at the California Theatre, the orchestra gave the world premiere of David Amram's "Three Songs: A Concerto for Piano and Orchestra" with soloist Jon Nakamatsu. It's very American music, breathing Amram's love of Gershwin, jazz, black spirituals and Copland's hymn-lined melancholia. You owe it to yourself to see one of this weekend's two remaining performances.

... Amram's concerto casts spells. Portions of the score are marked "dolce e religioso," and indeed, the work is dosed with beguiling sweetness and slow-burning, sacred power.

See full review

···New Documentary Film - "David Amram: The First 80 Years"···

Filmmaker Larry Kraman of Newport Classic Ltd. is making a documentary to celebrate Amram's 80th birthday on Nov 17, 2010

Along the with the many musical tributes in store for the 2010-2011 season celebrating the 80 years of the astonishingly productive life of Amram, Larry Kraman of Newport Classic Ltd. Recordings and Films is making a documentary film of Amram's life. In addition to all his current activities, archival film footage from his lifetime of of non-stop activities is being gathered from sources from around the world. See this link for further details.

···Symphonic Variations On a Song by Woody Guthrie Received it's East Coast Premier···

The Pioneer Valley Symphony presented the East Coast premier of Amram's new work, "Symphonic Variations On a Song by Woody Guthrie" on February 28, 2009 in North Hampton, MA. See this link (PDF) for more information.

The Guthrie Foundation commissioned Amram to compose this new symphonic work, celebrating the roots musics of Oklahoma Native American Indian stomp dances, Mexican polkas, European classical, African American, Country and Western, Delta Blues, and the immigrant urban sounds heard by Guthrie when he lived in Brooklyn, surrounded by Jewish, Asian, Latino, and Central European musics, all of which were part of Guthrie's experience in his wanderings as he composed This Land is Your Land.

It is modeled after Brahms Variations on a theme by Haydn and Amram's own Theme and Variations on Red River Valley for Flute and Strings, inspired by the time he spent with Guthrie in 1956, and Guthrie's book Bound for Glory.

Other orchestras are programming it for the 2009-2010 season.

See the following links for reviews and articles:

···Amram's First Book, Vibrations now re-issued in a new edition by Paradigm Publishers···

Amram's classic 1968 autobiography Vibrations with the original comments by Jack Kerouac on the cover is now available in an updated version in paperback. Upbeat : Nine Lives of a Musical Cat was released as their first trade book, with a forward by Frank McCourt. Amram's second book, "Offbeat: Collaborating wth Kerouac" has just been re-released by Paradigm Publishers in an updated version in paperback, with a new Forward by biographer Bill Morgan.

For comments on Vibrations see this link:

See the following links for reviews and articles of Amram's last two books:

···Naxos has released all-Amram CD···

Amram's symphony Songs of the Soul and excerpts from his Friday Night Sacred Service and Holocaust opera The Final Ingredient has been released internationally by Naxos Records. Sponsored by the Milken Foundation, these three critically acclaimed works were conducted by Kenneth Kiesler and Christopher Wilkins.

Many thanks to Michael Monteleone, filmmaker and Lord Buckley Scholar, for substantial contributions to the design of this website.

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