Harold Schiffman
Music Library
Naming Celebration
Friday, October 5, 2012
4:00 pm
Organ Hall, Music Building
In June 2012 The University of North Carolina at Greensboro announced a
$2 million planned gift from Dr. Harold A. Schiffman and Dr. Jane Perry-
Camp. The couple’s gift will provide music scholarships and support the
University Libraries, and the Music Library has been named for this gift.
Program
Welcome Sue Stinson
Interim Dean, School of Music, Theatre and Dance
John Deal
Dean Emeritus
Remarks Harold Schiffman
“Ballads and Lyrics” (2012) Harold Schiffman
I. We Could Wish Them a Longer Stay
II. A Rural Air
III. The Pilgrim and the Fir Tree
IV. This Foolish Love
V. Now that Spring is Here
VI. The Cook Crew in Herod’s Hall
Chamber Singers
Welborn Young, director
World Premiere
Remarks Linda P. Brady
Chancellor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
move to Harold Schiffman Music Library
Fanfare (1981) Harold Schiffman
UNCG Brass Ensemble
Dennis AsKew, director
Unveiling of the Name Rosann Bazirjian
Dean, University Libraries
Sarah Dorsey
Head, Harold Schiffman Music Library
Reception and Tours
Harold Schiffman (b. 1928; Greensboro, North Carolina) has composed in
virtually all media. His commissions include those from such diverse groups as
the Tallahassee Symphony, the International Trombone Association, the Apple
Trio, the Concertino String Quartet, the Mallarmé Chamber Players, and the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Music, as well as from a
number of individuals including conductor Richard Burgin, flutist Albert Tipton,
soprano Janice Harsanyi, pianist Jane Perry-Camp, and pianist/conductor Max
Lifchitz (for North/South Consonance). The North Carolina Symphony and the
ARTEA Chamber Orchestra of San Francisco, among others, have premièred his
music.
In January 1981, New York's Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, was the site of a
twenty-five year retrospective of Mr. Schiffman's compositions, with the
performance of both solo and chamber works there. Then in November 1992, the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, honored him with an all-Schiffman
concert of performances ranging from large ensemble to solo. North/South
Consonance celebrated Schiffman's seventieth birthday with a 1998 New York
performance by Jane Perry-Camp of excerpts from Spectrum, My Ladye Jane's
Booke (1992), which had received its complete première in November, 1994, his
seventy-fifth in 2003 with a program of his music in Weill Recital Hall at
Carnegie Hall, and his eightieth in 2008 with a program of his works at The
Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. In
the same year, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Music
presented a program of Schiffman's music featuring the North Carolina première
of Alma (2002), a cantata for mixed chorus, mezzo-soprano solo, and orchestra.
In June, 2000, Extravaganza (1998) for three pianos, twelve hands, was the
featured work at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Focus on Piano
Literature 2000. Other recent world premières include Alma (mezzo-soprano
Nadine Cheek Whitney, The Florida State University Philharmonia, The
University Singers, Alexander Jiménez, conductor; April 15, 2005, Tallahassee,
Florida); Concertino for Flute and String Orchestra (2004) (Lisa Hansen, flutist,
the North/South Chamber Orchestra, Max Lifchitz, conductor; New York, New
York, January 9, 2005), and the song cycle Blood Mountain (2007), Gayle Seaton,
soprano, and Jane Perry-Camp, pianist, New York, New York, March 9,
2008. Alma received its international première October 16, 2008, in Győr,
Hungary, by the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hungarian National Choir,
and mezzo soprano Katalin Halmai, with Mátyás Antal conducting. In
conjunction with that première the City of Győr honored Harold Schiffman with
its silver medal and a certificate from the Mayor in appreciation of the
composer’s contributions to the cultural life of the City.
In addition to performances in the United States, Mr. Schiffman's music has been
presented in Europe, Latin America, and the Far East. His publishers include
Associated/G. Schirmer, New York; Robert King (Alphonse Leduc, Paris);
Southern Music Co., San Antonio; Columbia Music Co., Chapel Hill; Harpa
Hungarica, Bloomington; and Andres Editions, Tallahassee. He is a member of
ASCAP. Schiffman's symphonic, choral, chamber, and solo compositions appear
on recordings issued by North/South Recordings (N/S R 1050, 1047, 1045, 1039,
1037, 1035, 1021, 1013, 1009, and 1001), Centaur (CRC2204), and Amoris
International (AISCVII). The six most recent of these CDs include his
cantata Alma (2002), Prelude and Variations (1970), and Chamber Concerto No.
2: In Memoriam Edward Kilenyi (2000); Concertino for Oboe and Chamber
Orchestra (1977); his complete string quartets recorded by the Auer Quartet,
Concertino for Flute and String Orchestra (2004), Concerto for Violin and
Orchestra (2006), Double Concerto for Horn, Bassoon and String Orchestra
(1992), Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (1997), his Symphony No.
2: Music for Győr (2008), Ninnerella Variata (1956), Variations on "Branchwater"
(1987), Blood Mountain Suite (2008), and Overture to a Comedy (1983).
Mr. Schiffman received his education at The University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, The University of California at Berkeley, and The Florida State
University, Tallahassee. His principal composition teacher was Roger Sessions
with whom he studied at the University of California, as well as privately in
Berkeley and again later in Princeton, New Jersey, following three years service
(1951-54) in the U. S. Army. In Tallahassee, a further influential mentor was Ernst
von Dohnányi. Appointed to the faculty of the Florida State University School of
Music in 1959, Harold Schiffman retired from the position of Professor of
Composition in 1983 and was designated Professor Emeritus in 1985. He was
founding director of the Florida State University Festival of New Music in 1981.
from http://www.haroldschiffman-composer.com/ February, 2009
