Acclaimed as a composer of “truly beautiful” and “hauntingly moving” music, Philadelphia native Amanda Harberg engages audiences and performers alike on both emotional and intellectual levels.
Harberg’s recent commissions include orchestral works for the Grand Rapids Symphony and the New Jersey Youth Symphony, Venus Unhinged by the Albany Symphony and David Alan Miller, Feathers and Wax for flutist Julietta Curenton’s debut with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, commissioned by violist Brett Deubner, Of Earth and Air by the University of Nevada Reno Symphony Orchestra, and and a new piece for pipe organ by Helen Hofmeister Hawley and the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids.
Her works have been played by ensembles including the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Albany Symphony’s Dogs of Desire, the National Symphony of Ecuador, the American Composers Orchestra, the Thuringer Symphoniker, the American Modern Ensemble, the Olympia Philharmonic Society, the New Jersey Youth Symphony, the Pasadena Young Musicians Orchestra, the FAUST Youth Symphony, the Harmonium Choral Society, the New York Licorice Ensemble, and many more.
Harberg’s awards include a Fulbright/Hays Fellowship to study with Frederic Rzewski in Belgium, two Meet the Composer Creative Connections grants, the New York Youth Symphony’s First Music Award, the Juilliard School’s Peter Menin Prize, a MacDowell Colony summer residency, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy's Outstanding Young Alumna Award, and grants from foundations including the Mellon Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, a Live Music for Dance grant, and the New York State Music Teachers Association. As in- house composer for Common Good Productions, Harberg has also composed music for an award winning feature documentary, as well as documentaries on PBS and for the Teaching Channel.
Harberg has recordings out on Koch International, Albany Records, Centaur Records, Walking Frog Records and upcoming recordings on American Modern Ensemble Records. She has taught at Juilliard, Interlochen, the Luzerne Music Center and the ASTA Chamber Music Institute, as well as maintaining an active private teaching studio since 1997. Harberg received her BM and MM from the Juilliard School where she studied with Stephen Albert, Robert Beaser and David Diamond, and where she was awarded the Peter Mennin Prize for outstanding accomplishment. Harberg lives in Glen Ridge NJ with her husband, Micah Fink and their two children, Lucas and Sydney.
Birding In The Palisades