Derek Bermel (b. New York 1967) is an American composer, clarinetist and conductor whose music incorporates various facets of world music, funk and jazz into traditionally classical performing forces and ensembles. He is the recipient of various awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the prestigious Rome Prize awarded to American artists for a year-long residency in Rome, Italy (Note: This award is given by the American Academy in Rome and has nothing to do with the Prix de Rome awarded by the Paris Conservatorie to its student composers.) Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: The Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York City Governor George Pataki (R) Senators Charles Schumer (D) Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) Official languages None (English is de facto) Area 141,205 km² or 54,556 square miles (27th)  - Land... Jump to: navigation, search 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Jump to: navigation, search A clarinetist (sometimes also spelled clarinettist) is a musician who plays the clarinet. ... See Conductor for other possible uses of the word. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Jump to: navigation, search Funk is a distinct style of music originated by African-Americans, e. ... Jump to: navigation, search Jazz master Louis Armstrong remains one of the most loved and best known of all jazz musicians. ... Guggenheim Fellowships are awarded annually by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. ... The American Academy in Rome is an arts institution, founded in the late 19th century by American composer Edward MacDowell and others. ... The Roman Colosseum Rome (Italian and Latin Roma) is the capital city of Italy, and of its Lazio region. ... The American Academy in Rome is an arts institution, founded in the late 19th century by American composer Edward MacDowell and others. ... The Prix de Rome is a scholarship for students of the arts. ...

Bermel was educated at Yale University and later studied at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with William Bolcom and William Albright. He also studied with Louis Andriessen in Amsterdam and Henri Dutilleux at Tanglewood. Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Yale (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search University of Michigan, Ann Arbor The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (U-M) is a public coeducational university in Michigan, United States. ... Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. ... William Elden Bolcom (born May 26, 1938) is an American composer of chamber, operatic, and symphonic music. ... William F. Albright (1891-1971) was an evangelical Methodist archaelogist, biblical authority, linguist and expert on ceramics. ... Louis Andriessen (born June 6, 1939) is a Dutch composer, son of the composer Hendrik Andriessen (1892-1981) and brother of composer Jurriaan Andriessen (1925-1996). ... Jump to: navigation, search Amsterdam Location Country The Netherlands Province North Holland Population 739,295 (1 January 2005) Coordinates 4°54E - 52°22N Website www. ... Henri Dutilleux (born January 22, 1916) is a French composer. ... Tanglewood is a music venue located in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts . ...

He first came into national spotlight with works like Natural Selection for baritone and ensemble and Voices, a concerto for clarinet and orchestra which he wrote for himself to perform. The piece was premiered by the American Composers Orchestra under the baton of the composer/conductor Tan Dun and was later performed by many other ensembles and conductors including the Los Angeles Philharmonic with composer/conductor John Adams. Tan Dun (譚盾 born August 18, 1957) is best known as the Grammy and Oscar award winning composer for the soundtracks of the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero. ... The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, USA. From 1964 to 2003, the orchestra played its concerts in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center. ... Jump to: navigation, search John Coolidge Adams (born February 15, 1947) is an American composer, with strong roots in minimalism. ...

Bermel's output includes pieces for various performing forces including orchestral pieces as well as string quartets and solo piano music. A rather substantial piece in his catalogue is Soul Garden for solo viola, cello and string quartet. The piece gained quite some publicity when the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (who commissioned the piece) only performed a portion of the piece, staring from the beginning and ending arbitrarily some 9 minutes into the piece because of supposed time constraints. Soul Garden is typical of recent Bermel works in that it focuses on the motif of "sighing." Bermel likens sensuous glissandi on the strings to human sighing and the same motif has appeared in many of his other works as well. The roots of the motif seem to originate from gospel and jazz music rather than from traditional classical performance. For the genre of Christian-themed music, see gospel music. ... Jump to: navigation, search Jazz master Louis Armstrong remains one of the most loved and best known of all jazz musicians. ...

Other works by Bermel include Slides for orchestra (commissioned by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra), Turning for piano solo, Three Rivers for large ensemble and Tied Shifts for sextet. Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the modern musical instrument. ...

Bermel is also an avid performing musician and has been seen playing with rock and funk groups including his own group TONK, for which he serves as music director. He has also performed many pieces on the clarinet including his own concerto. He often jokes that he has a "loose" embouchure and was playing the clarinet incorrectly. Strangely enough, his old clarinet teacher told him years later that his method worked so well that he changed all his students to play with Bermel's "wrong" embouchure.

Besides his activity as a composer and performer, Bermel has also been involved with the education of a new generation of composers through the New York Youth Symphony workshop for young composers, "Making Score" in which he serves as director.

Bermel's music is published by Peer Music Classical in the United States and is distributed in Europe, Australia and New Zealand by Faber Music. World map showing Europe (geographically) When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ...

He begins a three-year residency with the American Composers Orchestra in Fall of 2006. Residency is a stage of postgraduate medical training in North America which leads to eligibility for board certification in a primary care or referral specialty. ...

External links

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Derek Bermel

• http://www.derekbermel.com
• http://www.peermusicclassical.com/composer/composerdetail.cfm?detail=bermel
• http://www.nyyouthsymphony.org/programs_score.htm
• http://www.fabermusic.com/serverside/composers/Details.asp?ID=Bermel,%20Derek&View=biog&Section=composers