Gordon Beeferman is a composer and pianist whose work spans opera, orchestral and chamber music, improvisation, and collaborations with dance and other arts. His compositions have been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Albany Symphony, California EAR Unit, Quartet New Generation recorder collective, American Brass Quintet, eighth blackbird, and others. His chamber opera "The Rat Land," performed by the New York City Opera on its VOX showcase in 2007 and 2009, was praised by the New York Times as "complex and daringly modern." His septet “Music for an Imaginary Band” was described by Time Out New York as a “commanding avant-jazz ensemble.”
Beeferman has received commissions from the Fromm Foundation, the BMI Foundation, and Concert Artists Guild, among others, and prizes including three BMI Student Composer Awards, an ASCAP Young Composer Award, and the BMG/Williams College National Awards to Young Composers Grand Prize. He has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Copland House, and a fellowship to Tanglewood.
A "fully liberated pianist" (Cadence Magazine), Beeferman has performed extensively in New York as well as at other venues across the US and Canada. Since moving to New York in 1998, Beeferman has been an active member of the local new-music community, appearing at Roulette, the Vision Festival, the Knitting Factory, MATA Festival, Columbia University's Italian Academy, and live on WNYC, WKCR and WFMU. His collaborations with choreographer Anita Cheng have been produced at the Joyce SoHo, Danspace, and Cunningham Studio.
A native of Cambridge, Mass., Beeferman was born in 1976. He played piano from an early age; he studied jazz and Third Stream privately with Ran Blake. He received his B.M. in composition from the University of Michigan and was awarded the Stanley Medal, the School’s highest undergraduate honor. His teachers have included William Albright, William Bolcom, Bright Sheng and Leslie Bassett for composition, and Steven Drury and Anton Nel for piano.
Beeferman’s recordings of improvised ensemble music are available on Generate Records; his chamber music can be heard on the Genuin and (in 2010) Summit labels.