Joel Spiegelman (Harpsichord, Synthesizer)

Born: January 23, 1933 - Buffalo, New York, USA

The American pianist, harpsichordist, conductor and composer, Joel (Warren) Spiegelman, studied at the Yale School of Music (1949-1950), the University of Buffalo (B.A., 1953), the Longy School of Music at Cambridge, Massachusetts (1953-1954), and Brandeis University, where he attended the classes of Shapero, Fine and Berger (1954-1956; 1960-1961; M.F.A.). He also studied with Boulanger privately in Paris and took courses at the Conservatoire there (1956-1957).

Joel Spiegelman taught at the Longy School of Music (1961-1962), Brandeis University (1961-1966), and Sarah Lawrence College (from 1966), where he was director of its Studio for Electronic Music and Sound Media. He made tours as harpsichordist. He was director of the New York Electronic Ensemble from 1970 to 1973, and conductor of the Russian Orchestra of the Americans from 1976 to 1979. He conducts regularly with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Joel Spiegelman is considered to be one of the most important creators of advanced music today. He touches a wide spectrum of musical forms. His genius marks the worlds of symphonic, electronic, chamber and choral music, as well as that of ballet and film. Spiegelman's music is performed world-wide.

Included in Spiegelman's discography is his appearance as harpsichord soloist on CBS Records with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in a recording of a work by the Russian avant-garde composer Edison Denisov. More recently, a solo disc of his digital transcription of Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) was issued by East-West Records, a Time-Warner Communications label. This recording is now being reissued over the internet world-wide by JSI Media, Inc.

Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997); Naxos Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (January 2007)

Joel Spiegelman: Short Biography | Recordings of Instrumental Works

Links to other Sites

Joel Spiegelman (Naxos)