Amanda Harberg

Amanda Harberg
Born	(1973-05-11) May 11, 1973 (age 52) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma mater	The Juilliard School (BM) Columbia University Barnard College Royal Conservatory of Liège The Juilliard School (MM) Rutgers University (PhD)
Occupations	Composer, professor
Notable work	Piccolo Concerto , Solis, Suite for Wind Quintet
Spouse	Micah Fink (m. 2003)
Children	2
Website	https://amandaharberg.com/

Amanda Harberg (born 1973) is an American composer and pianist of classical music whose work has been performed internationally. ^{[1] [2]} She is currently on the composition faculty at the Berklee College of Music, and has been on the faculty at the Juilliard School as well as the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. ^[3] Her work has been performed by leading orchestras worldwide like the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. ^[4]

Notable students include Tito Muñoz. ^[5] She is notable for orchestral work like her Piccolo Concerto , Clarinet Concerto, and Tuba Sonata, as well as wind band work. ^{[6] [4]}

Biography

Harberg was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied piano and composition in her early youth, completing her first composition at the age of 5. ^{[1] [7]} Growing up, she studied piano with Mariana Grin and orchestration with Leonid Grin, who expanded her repertoire. She attended high school at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and had compositions performed by the University of the Arts Orchestra.

She earned a BM and Masters in Music from the Juilliard School as the only female undergraduate in her class, studying with Stephen Albert (until his death is 1992), David Diamond, and Robert Beaser, graduating with the Peter Mennin Prize. ^[4] She subsequently received a Fulbright–Hays Fellowship to study in Europe with Frederic Rzewski at the Royal Conservatory of Liège. Harberg additionally undertook piano studies under Zelma Bodzin and György Sándor, a protége of Bela Bartok, and took coursework at Columbia University and Barnard College. She later received a PhD from Rutgers University under Robert Aldridge. ^[1]

Harberg's music has been praised by the New York Times as "a sultry excursion into lyricism." Yannick Nézet-Séguin said that Harberg "shrugs off the mundane and explores the unexpected." John Corigliano stated that "she invigorates the brain and touches the soul. I love her work."

She has been commissioned and performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, New World Symphony, Albany Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Youth Symphony, Dorian Wind Quintet, Imani Winds, New York Youth Symphony, United States Army Band, Bay Atlantic Symphony, Harmonium Choral Society, Network for New Music, and Grand Rapids Symphony, and soloists Dennis Kim, Paul Cohen, Timothy McAllister, Anthony McGill, Valerie Coleman, Brett Deubner, Allison Brewster Franzetti, and Robert Langevin. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, JoAnn Falletta, David Alan Miller, Ransom Wilson, and David Lockington have conducted her work. ^[8] In 2012, the world premiere recording Birding in the Palisades was first recorded by the Palisades Virtuosi, which featured original monologues to Harberg's music by singer Marni Nixon. ^[9]

Her music has been performed in venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Disney Hall, Verizon Hall, and the Symphony Center and has been awarded two New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowships, a New York State Council on the Arts fellowship, a MacDowell Colony summer residency, New York Youth Symphony First Music Award, and nine National Flute Association Newly Published Music awards. She has held residencies at schools like Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music, Eastman School of Music, Boston Conservatory, DePaul University, Arizona State University, Lawrence University, University of Nevada, Coastal Carolina University, and Ohio University. ^{[1] [10]} She is published by Schott Music.

Compositions

Orchestra

• Clarinet Concerto (2022) for clarinet and orchestra; also version for wind band ^[11]
• Piccolo Concerto (2021) for piccolo and orchestra, world premiere with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra with soloist Erica Peel ^[12]
• On Rousseau (2016) for orchestra, commissioned by the Bay Atlantic Symphony
• Solis (2015) for orchestra
• Prayer (2014) for orchestra
• Elegy (2013) for orchestra
• Of Earth and Air (2013) orchestra
• Viola Concerto (2012) for viola and orchestra, commissioned by violist Brett Duebner
• Elegy (2007) for viola and string orchestra

Chamber music

• Excursions (2025) for wind quintet
• Oh, Snap! (2024) for clarinet in Bb and piano
• This! (2023) for solo flute and flute ensemble
• Tuba Sonata (2023) for tuba and piano
• Aria (2022) for flute, clarinet in A, and piano
• Crossroads (2022) for flute, clarinet in A or English horn, and piano
• Bassoon Sonata (2021) for bassoon and piano
• Luca’s Garden (2021) for clarinet in Bb, violin, cello, and piano
• Fever Dreams (2020) for three piccolos and piano
• Mementos (2020) for flute and guitar
• Sonata for Piccolo and Piano (2018) for piccolo and piano
• Suite for Wind Quintet (2017) for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon
• Court Dances (2017) for flute and piano
• Sadie’s Birthday Adventures (2016) for narrator, clarinet (bass Bb), bass trombone, double bass, percussion, and piano
• Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (2015) for clarinet in Bb and piano
• Feathers and Wax (2014) for flute and piano, winner of the 2016 National Flute Association Newly Published Music award
• Venus Unhinged (2011) for two amplified sopranos, flute, oboe, clarinet in Bb, bassoon, soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone, horn, trumpet in C, trombone, percussion, synthesizer, two violins, viola, cello, bass
• Prayer (2011) for flute or viola and piano
• Birding in the Palisades (2009) for flute and piano
• Philadelphia Suite (2007) for viola and piano
• Elegy (2017) for viola and piano
• Tenement Rhapsody (2005) for two pianos or clarinet ensemble (2011)
• Poem and Transformation (2000) for flute and piano
• On the Edge (1997) for two cellos

Choral music

• This! (2022) for flute and SATB a cappella chorus
• Apparitions (2008) for SATB a cappella chorus

Solo non-piano music

• Don’t Forget to Write (2020) for solo clarinet or piccolo
• Toccata (2013) for organ, commissioned by the Grand Rapids Presbyterian Church for organist Helen Hofmeister Hawley.
• For Sydney (2011) for solo viola

Solo piano music

• Four Sisters (2024) for solo piano, ^[13] commissioned by the Fauré Centennial Festival
• Woodland Toccata (2015) for piano solo
• When We Sat for Tea (2015) for piano solo
• Windswept (2015) for piano solo
• Rock Star (2015) for piano solo
• A Conversation (2015) for piano solo
• Up Up and Away (2010) for solo piano
• Breathing Songs (2002) for solo piano
• 5 Short Pieces (1994) for solo piano
• Piano Sonata (1992) for solo piano

Discography

Film Scores

Year	Title	Director	Distributer	Notes
2013	The Abominable Crime	Micah Fink	PBS	Amnesty Intl Human Rights Film Award 2014.  Best Documentary, Winston-Salem LBGT Film Festival. Best Documentary, Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival.  Best Documentary, Roze Filmdagen Film Festival.  Audience Award, Mix Copenhagen. Best Documentary, Belize International Film Festival.   Special Mention, Movies That Matter Film Festival.
2016	Beyond Borders: Undocumented Mexican Americans	Micah Fink	PBS

Album Features

Title	Year	Album	Record label
"Aria from Viola Concerto" (Brett Duebner and the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra with Linus Lerner)	2024	Classical Hidden Gems, Vol.1	Naxos Records
"Court Dances" (Ewa Kowalski and Anna Rutkowska-Schock)	2024	HER JOURNEY: flute and piano works by women	Da Vinci Classics
"Suite for Wind Quintet" (Aspen Music Festival - Aspen Winds)	2023	Aspen Winds 2023	Aspen Winds
"Feathers and Sax" (Paul Cohen, Louis Anderson)	2022	Soprano Summit	Ravello Records
"Court Dances" (Julian Velasco and Winston Choi)	2022	As We Are	Cedille Records
"Feathers and Wax" (Julietta Curenton)	2021	Feathers and Wax	Julietta Curenton
"Hall of Ghosts" (Snježana Pavičević)	2020	Piccolo Solo Globe Tour	Nota Bene Records
"Philly Suite" (Brett Deubner and Caroline Fauchet)	2017	Deep Sky Blue	Undici 07 s.a.s. di Maurizio Bignone
"Amanda Harberg: Viola Concerto and Elegy - Max Wolpert: Viola Concerto No.1 “Giants”" (Brett Duebner and the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra with Linus Lerner)	2017	Amanda Harberg: Viola Concerto and Elegy - Max Wolpert: Viola Concerto No.1 “Giants”	Naxos American Classics
"Subway" (Stephen Gosling and Blair McMillen)	2015	Powerhouse Pianists II	American Modern Recordings
"Feathers and Wax" (Eileen Strempel and Sylvie Beaudette)	2015	Mythavian	Corbus Du Toit
"Tenement Rhapsody" (New York Licorice Ensemble)	2013	New American Works for Clarinet Ensemble	NAR Records]l
"Birding in the Palisades" (Marni Nixon with the Palisades Virtuosi)	2012	New American Masters, Vol.4	Albany Records
"Midnight Songs: Memory" (Colbus Du Toit and Doreen Lee)	2009	Feathers and Wax	Centaur Records

References

1. "Amanda Harberg Biography".
2. levinemusic (2025-03-21). "In Celebration of Women Composers". Levine Music. Retrieved 2025-12-30.
3. "Berklee College of Music Staff Directory".
4. "Amanda Harberg at the LA phil".
5. "Talented Latino Moves to Cincinnati". Midwest Latino. 1 Nov 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
6. "Amanda Harberg views 'Hall of Ghosts' as 'calling the music back' to the stage".
7. "'An Analytical Study of Amanda Harberg's Sonata for B-Flat Clarinet and Piano".
8. "Noteworthy's Q & A with Amanda Harberg".
9. "New American Masters - Volume 4". Palisades Virtuosi. Retrieved 2025-12-30.
10. "'Hall of Ghosts' is 'calling the music back' to the stage: Chicago Symphony Orchestra".
11. "Amanda Harberg and friends".
12. "Sheet music composed by Amanda Harberg".
13. "'Wildness and marvelous detail:' Amanda Harberg's 'Lucas's Garden' in Studio A".

External links

• Official website
• Recordings by Amanda Harberg | Now available to stream and purchase at Naxos
• 2006 Composer Biographies – Women in Music Festival - Eastman School of Music