Schiffman Retrospective

Saturday, March 1, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
School of Music Recital Hall

Harold Schiffman (b. Greensboro, NC, 1928) will celebrate his eightieth year with a concert at UNCG on Saturday, March 1. The concert will feature his cantata Alma (2002) in its North Carolina première. Schiffman will also attend two additional concerts in celebration: March 9 in New York, NY, sponsored by North/South Consonance, Inc.; and October 16, Gyor, Hungary, the European première of Alma by the Gyor Philharmonic and the Hungarian National Chorus, Mátyás Antal, conducting. The March 9th concert will include the New York première of Schiffman’s Sonata No. 1 for Piano (1951) with Max Lifchitz performing, and the world première of the song cycle Blood Mountain (2007), text from North Carolina Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer’s Black Shawl.

Growing up in Greensboro had distinct musical and cultural advantages for the young, aspiring composer. He studied piano with Florence Hunt (affectionately known as “Huntie”). Further, he studied composition privately for a summer with Mrs. T. Moody Stroud, and when young Schiffman was a senior at Greensboro (now Grimsley) High School, with Professor Elliot Weisgarber, a member of the faculty at the Women’s College (WC), now UNCG.

In addition, World War II brought many distinguished musicians to the city via the U.S. Army’s Basic Training Center (BTC) 10 and Overseas Replacement Depot (ORD), professional musicians with whom Schiffman came into frequent contact. He also attended the numerous Civic Music Concerts at the college, at which Schiffman heard the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Minneapolis Symphony, and such legendary figures as Rachmaninoff, Hoffman, Arrau, Milstein, and Szigeti in concert. Moreover, the Arts Forums at WC brought Schiffman into contact with distinguished composers: Randall Thompson, Howard Hanson, and Bernard Rogers. These programs also provided some of the first public performances of his compositions.

He was honored in January 1981 with a twenty-five year retrospective of his compositions at New York's Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. In November 1992, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill honored him with an all-Schiffman concert of performances ranging from large ensemble to solo performer. North/South Consonance, Inc. celebrated Schiffman's seventieth birthday with a special 1998 New York performance, and his seventy-fifth in 2003 with a program of his music in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

In addition to performances throughout the United States, 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, Centaur, and Amoris International.

Find more information about Schiffman at www.haroldschiffman-composer.com.

Photo (above): Harold Schiffman, Salzburg, Austria (23 June 1999)
Photograph by Imre Rohmann

Photo (right): Harold Schiffman at the Bösendorfer, Tallahassee, Florida (1998)
Photograph by Lois Griffin © 1998 Lois Griffin

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