Benjamin Bierman
Composer, Trumpet,
Educator, Producer
Benjamin Bierman is a composer, trumpet player, educator, arranger, producer, and bandleader. He has a very wide range of musical experiences and an eclectic aesthetic sensibility to match. As a composer, his works have been performed both nationally and internationally. His works have been performed by, among others, Cygnus Ensemble, 60x60 Project, Anderson/Fader guitar duo, The New York Victorian Consort (he is their resident arranger), and the CUNY Graduate Center Contemporary Music Ensemble. Ben was the Composer-in-Residence for the Goliard Ensemble, and his orchestral work, Proximities, was conferred the status of special recognition by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in their Synergy Project competition. Bierman is the recipient of the Rosa Riegelman award for Music Scholarship, as well as the Institute for Studies in American Music Award in Composition, and was awarded an Elebash Dissertation Fellowship. Check out the News! page for recent activity, including his piece The Poem That Nobody Hears, commissioned for “Opera Shorts” at Carnegie Hall. Ben also recently completed a recording of his recent song cycle, Beyond Romance, for soprano, tenor, and piano, with lyrics by Earl Shuman, as well as a new recording of his So(Not)a for Trumpet and Piano.
As a trumpet player he has performed and recorded with such diverse artists as B.B. King, Archie Shepp, Machito, Ray Barretto, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Johnny Copeland, Albert Collins, Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughn, James Cotton, and Butch Morris.
Ben is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Music at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. He has also taught at Boston University, Brooklyn College, Baruch College, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Ben has a Ph.D. in composition from The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and has studied composition with Tania León, David Del Tredici, and John Corigliano. His dissertation, “The Music of George Handy,” was recently nominated for the Barry Brook Dissertation Award, and Bierman has been regularly speaking and writing on Handy’s work. He Ben resides in Brooklyn with his wife and three sons. He loves being outdoors, and cannot resist a great groove.
Updated October 4, 2009
