APNM COMPOSER: Steven R. Gerber

Steven R. Gerber was born in Washington, D.C. in 1948 and now lives in New York City. He has degrees from Haverford College and
from Princeton University, which awarded him a 4-year fellowship for graduate studies. Two CDs of his orchestral works were released
in 2000 on the Chandos and KOCH International Classics labels, the latter with a grant from the Aaron Copland Fund, to rave reviews
throughout the United States and Great Britain. He has written for some of the major performers of our time, including a Viola Concerto
for Yuri Bashmet, a Cello Concerto for Carter Brey, a Violin Concerto for Kurt Nikkanen, and String Quartet #4 for the Fine Arts Quartet.

Recent works include a Clarinet Concerto written for Jon Manasse, to be premiered in 2005; "Spirituals" for clarinet and string quartet,
commissioned by Concertante Chamber Players and premiered by them in 2001 at the Library of Congress, at Merkin Hall, and in
Harrisburg; and a fanfare commissioned by Voice of America for its 60th anniversary and premiered at a memorial concert at VOA on
September 11, 2003. In the 2002-2003 season Gerber's Symphony #1 received its U.S. premiere by the Louisville Orchestra, and
Dirge and Awakening received its U.S. premiere by the Skokie Valley (Illinois) Symphony. In 2004 KOCH International will release a
new CD of his solo and chamber works, featuring violinist Kurt Nikkanen, and including violinist Cho-Liang Lin and several other per-
formers. The 2003-4 season included the world premieres of his String Quartet #5 by the Amernet Quartet and Triple Overture for
violin, cello, piano, and orchestra by the Long Island Philharmonic.

Fanfare for the Voice of A-M-E-R-I-C-A Soon after 9/11, Voice of America asked me to write a work to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
I was impressed by its mission, which requires the VOA to present news objectively and accurately and to represent a wide range of
responsible opinion and viewpoints. The piece takes its title from one of the three motives on which the piece is based: the letters
A-M-E-R-C-A (the letter i is omitted) in which M represents Mi or e, R represents Re or d, and C is both c natural and c sharp. The
second motive comes from the letters U-S-A (U represents ut, which is c in French, S equals e-flat in German) and is first heard in
the horn after the opening trumpet melody. The third motive consists of the first few notes of “Yankee Doodle,” VOA’s theme song
for over fifty years. Incorporating these motives in the piece I was intent upon writing something consonant with the national spirit
after September 11, a time of grim determination and unity, as well as of tragedy.

Spirituals for clarinet and string quartet, with the exception of the last two movements which are basically arrangements (although
Major Blues transforms the 4-bar melodies into 6-bar blues melodies, and Homage to Ravel adds a coda to Balm in Gilead), these
pieces are original compositions based on fragments or characteristics of various spirituals. Some are based on just the rhythm or
the melodic contour. Amazing Grace Notes: Homage to John Harbison was inspired by the grace notes in Harbison’s Amazing Grace
for solo oboe; Homage to Ravel borrows its arpeggiated harmonics from the first of Ravel’s Trois Poemes de Stephane Mallarme.
There is an earlier version of Spirituals for string orchestra and a more recent version was written for the St. Petersburg String
Quartet. This version was commissioned by Concertante Chamber Players, and first performed with clarinetist Jon Manasse.