David Amram

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  • David Amram started his musical career in 1951 as a French horn player in the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.). After moving to New York City in 1955, he became part of the legendary jazz bands of Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton and Oscar. Since then, he has traveled the world and worked as a musician and conductor in more than thirty-five countries. He established the first jazz poetry reading in New York City with writer Jack Kerouac, composed film music for numerous films such as »Pull My Daisy« (1959), and was named the first composer in residence for the New York Philharmonic in 1966. His best-known recent symphonic compositions include »This Land, Symphonic Variations On A Song By Woody Guthrie« (2007), »Giants of the Night« (2002), »Three Songs, A Concerto for Piano and Orchestra« (2009), and many more. In 2011, he was also inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame as the recipient of the Jay McShann Lifetime Achievement Award. His life and work are chronicled in the documentary film »David Amram: The First Eighty Years« as well as in his three memoirs. David Amram remains one of the most performed and influential composers of our time and will soon be thrilling audiences with a fourth book »Amram@90: Notes from a Promising Young Composer«, the settings of his previous books, his new composition »Voyages for Unaccompanied Violin« for Elmira Darvarova, and his new orchestral work.