U.S. Premiere of Azerbaijani Dance, by Avner Dorman, February 22, 2011 at Carnegie Hall, New York, by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta

Zubin Mehta, a long-time champion of Dorman’s music, returns to Carnegie
Hall in New York on February 22, 2011, with the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/box_office/events/evt_12779.html?selecteddate=02222011,
as part of the orchestra’s 75th Anniversary Season tour. The concert
will open with the U.S. premiere of Dorman’s Azerbaijani Dance, an
orchestral work which received its world premiere in October 2010 at the
opening concert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s 75th anniversary
season in Israel*. Mr. Mehta conducted the U.S. premiere of Dorman’s Spices,
Perfumes, Toxins! * at the New
York Philharmonic in 2009 as well as the German premiere of Spices,
Perfumes, Toxins! at the Bavarian State Orchestra in 2010; Azerbaijani
Dance will mark the first time in years that the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra has presented a work by an Israeli composer at Carnegie
Hall.

Dorman notes, “Azerbaijani Dance is inspired by a traditional Azerbaijani melody.
I use its basic contour and restructure it following principles of Turkish
and Central Asian music…. I aim to preserve traditional elements of
Azerbaijani and Middle-Eastern music by incorporating quarter tones,
Middle-Eastern percussion instruments, and extended techniques that
transform western instruments into their non-western counterparts.”

*ABOUT AVNER DORMAN: *

Avner Dorman’s unique approach to rhythm and timbre has attracted some of
the world’s leading conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Marin Alsop,
Christoph Eschenbach, David Robertson, Asher Fisch, and Simone Young, to
bring his music to audiences of the New York Philharmonic, the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Munich
Philharmonic, the Hamburg Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the
Cabrillo Music Festival, among many others.

At the age of 25, Avner Dorman became the youngest composer to win Israel’s
prestigious Prime Minister’s Award for his *Ellef Symphony*, and that same
year he was awarded the Golden Feather Award from ACUM (the Israeli Society
of Composers and Publishers). Since coming to the United States, Dorman has
received several international awards from ASCAP, ACUM, and the Asian
Composers League.

Dorman’s music is noted for its rare combination of rigorous compositional
construction while preserving the sense of excitement and spontaneity
associated with Jazz, Rock, or Ethnic Music.

Masterful in his innovative use of percussion, Dorman’s two percussion
concerti are quickly becoming staples of the repertoire. Zubin Mehta led the
premiere of his double percussion concerto, *Spices, Perfumes,
Toxins!*(2006), with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and
subsequently performed it
with the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra, as well as conducted the 2009 US
premiere with the New York Philharmonic, featuring the percussion ensemble
PercaDu. Dorman’s 2007 percussion concerto*, Frozen in Time*, commissioned
by soloist Martin Grubinger, received an overwhelming standing ovation at
the Hamburg Philharmonic’s world premiere, and following numerous successful
performances worldwide, will be given its U.S. premiere at the Kansas City
Symphony led by Michael Stern with Martin Grubinger April 29, April 30, and
May 1, 2011. Dorman has made significant contributions to the repertoire of
other unique instruments and ensembles with his *Mandolin Concerto, Piccolo
Concerto, Concerto for Violin and a Rock Band,* and *Saxophone Concerto*,
which received its world premiere in October 2010 with legendary jazz
saxophone soloist Joshua Redman, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and music
director Justin Brown.

A pianist himself and an avid devotee of chamber music, Avner Dorman has
composed numerous chamber works and works for piano solo, which have been
performed in several of the world’s most prestigious halls and festivals. In
2005, Naxos released a recording of Eliran Avni performing Dorman’s piano
works to wide critical acclaim, and in 2010 Naxos released a disc featuring
four of Dorman’s chamber concerti to wide acclaim. Avi Avital’s performance
of Dorman’s *Mandolin Concerto* on the Naxos disc was nominated for a 2010
classical Grammy® Award for *Best Instrumental Soloist with Ensemble.*

Born in 1975, Avner Dorman completed his Doctoral degree as a C.V. Starr
fellow at the Juilliard School where he studied with John Corigliano and his
Master’s degree at Tel Aviv University where he majored in music,
musicology, and physics and studied with former Soviet composer Josef
Bardanashvili. Dorman was a composition fellow at the Tanglewood Music
Center and served as composer in residence for The Israel Camerata from 2001
through 2003. He is composer-in-residence of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra
for the 2010-2011 season.

Avner Dorman’s music is exclusively published by G. Schirmer.