Michael Jeffrey Shapiro

Michael Jeffrey Shapiro is an American composer, conductor, and author.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and studied at Columbia College, Columbia University, the Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School. He has worked with musicians and performers including Teresa Stratas, Janos Starker, Tim Fain, Matthew Kraemer, Jacob Schnitzer, Deborah Simpkin King, Marin Alsop, Sergiu Comissiona, Jerry Junkin, John Corigliano, David Tanenbaum, Neil W. Levin, Kim Cattrall, Miah Persson, Clamma Dale, Katherine Ciesinski, Jan Swafford, Jerome Rose, Tomer Zvulun, Adam Abeshouse, Lara Downes, Hila Plitmann, Sangeeta Kaur, Grant Gershon, and Anita Darian. In 2024, he was nominated as a conductor for a Grammy Award for "Mythologies II" for "Best Classical Compendium."

Shapiro was music consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and has produced and performed in concerts by Jewish composers who had fled The Holocaust or had been murdered during it, and musicians imprisoned in Theresienstadt Ghetto. His oratorio, VOICES, is a setting of poetry and songs of Sephardic victims of the Holocaust and was premiered at Central Synagogue, New York City by Deborah Simpkin King conducting Ember Choral Arts and the American Modern Ensemble. Two movements of the oratorio were later performed by Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

In 1984, Tim Page, writing in The New York Times, described Shapiro as

Selected work Opera The Love of Don Perlimplin and Belisa in the Garden, libretto by Michael Shapiro based on the play by Federico García Lorca - a one-act opera written in 1984 Frankenstein-The Movie Opera, soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass, and chamber orchestra (text the Latin Requiem Mass)(premiered at the Los Angeles Opera) The Slave, based on the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer, libretto by Hannah McDermott (aria Let Me Live recorded by Miah Persson and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)

Film scores American Jewish Committee documentary Distant Relatives - Israel Broadcasting Authority Frankenstein-The Movie Score - six versions for fifteen player ensemble, full orchestra, wind ensemble, piano quintet, organ solo, choral and operatic forces

Symphonies Symphony Pomes Penyeach based on the poems of James Joyce Second Symphony, recorded by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Third Symphony Fourth Symphony

Orchestra A Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 for narrator and orchestra Lyric Variations for chamber orchestra like the roaring sea for orchestra Dublin Songs for soprano and orchestra Frankenstein-The Overture, recorded by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Frankenstein-The Movie Score (two orchestral versions - chamber ensemble (15 players) and full orchestra) The Headless Horseman for narrator and orchestra Perlimplinito, Opera Sweet, a lace paper valentine for orchestra, recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales Widorama! for orchestra, recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales Roller Coaster for orchestra, recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales The Babbling Orchestra for piccolo solo,narrator and orchestra, recorded by Diva Goodfriend-Koven, piccolo, Elliott Forrest, librettist and narrator, The Chappaqua Orchestra "Zoomies!" for orchestra, premiered and recorded by the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra conducted by Matthew Kraemer

Band Roller Coaster for band Widorama! for band premiered by the Dallas Winds conducted by Jerry Junkin Frankenstein-The Overture for wind ensemble Frankenstein-The Movie Score for wind ensemble Bamboula for band A Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 for narrator and band Ol' Mississippi Sings the Blues for band, dedicated to Blind Mississippi Morris In Every One for band American Interludes for band Tending for band (arranged by Michael Markowski), optional narration based on a poem by Cotton Mather "Zoomies!" for band

Concerti Sinfonia Concertante for violin, violoncello, and orchestra Concerto for guitar and strings Concerto for harp and strings Archangel Concerto for piano and orchestra, recorded by Steven Beck, pianist, BBC National Orchestra of Wales At the Shore of the Sea, Concerto for violin and orchestra, premiered and recorded by Tim Fain and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra conducted by Matthew Kraemer In the Light of the Sun, Concerto for flute and orchestra, recorded by Stathis Karapanos, flautist, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The World to Come, Concerto for violoncello and orchestra

Chamber String Quartet (Yiddish), recorded by Argus Quartet Piano Quintet, recorded by Argus Quartet and Steven Beck, piano Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano, recorded by Tim Fain, violin, and Steven Beck, piano Sonata for Clarinet and Piano Sextet for Piano and Winds Shir for Flute and Piano Yiddishkeit for Clarinet and Piano (alt. Violin and Piano or Cello and Piano) Musical Chairs for brass quintet (French Horn, two trumpets, trombone) American Realists for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano Watching the Students Grow for two Flutes and Piano Piano Trio No. 1 Solo Instrumental Eliahu Hanavi Variations - for solo violoncello, recorded by Sato Knudsen (Boston Symphony Orchestra) Peace Variations- for solo violin, recorded by Tim Fain Kaddish-Berakhot-Nigun - for solo flute

Piano Five Preludes Mysteries Sonata No. 1 Sonata No. 2 Bitter(sweet) Waltzes, recorded by Steven Beck Passages, recorded by Steven Beck Creation Babel In the Wilderness Hannah A Light Ruth Naso The Deluge Hineni! (Here I Stand!) American Interludes, dedicated to Lara Downes Calming Tending In Every One

Choral Three Psalms (SATB a cappella) Psalm 137 (SATB and organ) Three Shakespeare Madrigals (SATB a capella) There is that in me (Walt Whitman) (SATB and ensemble) Spanish Medieval Lyrics (SSATB a capella) Voices Oratorio based on Sephardic poetry of the Holocaust (soprano or tenor soloist, SATB, and chamber ensemble), oratorio in eight movements, recorded by Daniel Mutlu, Ember Choral Arts, American Modern Ensemble, Deborah Simpkin King, West Coast premiere by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, conductor In Paradisum (SATBariB and ensemble) Cultivo una rosa blanca (Jose Marti) (SATB and piano) Liberation Cantata (SATB and piano)

Song cycles Canciones, poetry by Federico García Lorca, recorded by Ariadne Greif Dublin Songs, poetry by James Joyce, recorded by Ariadne Greif in the piano version and Miah Persson, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, in the orchestral version Songs for American Poets, poetry by Walt Whitman, Teton Sioux, Carl Sandburg Wordsworth Songs, poetry by William Wordsworth Erotic Songs, poetry by Erica Jong and Denise Levertov A Child's Garden, poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson (from A Child's Garden of Verses) Whitman Songs, poetry by Walt Whitman

Recordings Recordings include: Eliahu Hanavi Variations - Sato Knudsen ('cello) (Naxos Records, Milken Archive of Jewish American Music) Variation - Peace Variations - Tim Fain (violin) and Eliahu Hanavi Variations - Sato Knudsen ('cello) (Paumanok Records) Second Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records) Overture to Frankenstein-The Movie Score, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records) Second Sonata for Violin and Piano, Tim Fain (violin) and Steven Beck (piano) (Paumanok Records) Archangel Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Steven Beck (piano), BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records) Roller Coaster, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records) Perlimplinito, Opera Sweet, A Lace Paper Valentine for orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records) Widorama!, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records) Michael's Songbook, Vol. I, Ariadne Greif, soprano, Michael Shapiro, piano (recordings of Canciones and Dublin Songs) (Paumanok Records) Passages, American Interludes, and Bitter(Sweet) Waltzes, Steven Beck, piano (Paumanok Records) Voices, Daniel Mutlu, tenor, Ember Choral Arts, American Modern Ensemble, Deborah Simpkin King, conductor (Paumanok Records) Yiddish Quartet and Piano Quintet, Argus Quartet and Steven Beck, piano (Paumanok Records) In the Light of the Sun, Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, Stathis Karapanos, flautist, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records) Dublin Songs, poetry by James Joyce, and "Let Me Live", aria from the opera The Slave, based on the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer, libretto by Hannah McDermott, Miah Persson, soprano, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records) The Babbling Orchestra, libretto by Elliott Forrest, Diva Goodfriend-Koven, piccolo soloist, Chappaqua Orchestra, Michael Shapiro, conductor (Paumanok Records) Zoomies!, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Matthew Kraemer, conductor (Paumanok Records) At the Shore of the Sea, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Tim Fain (violin), Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Matthew Kraemer, conductor (Paumanok Records)