Stanley M. Hoffman, Ph.D. (Photograph Copyright 1998 by Korday Studio, Framingham, MA. Used by permission.) Composer, Arranger, Editor, Conductor, Baritone, Lecturer

Background

Stanley M. Hoffman was born in Cleveland in 1959. He has lived in the greater Boston area since 1977.

Dr. Hoffman is a biographee in Marquis Who's Who in America.

He is a member of BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated).

Almost all of his unpublished works and many of his published works are now in the holdings of The International Archive of Jewish Music located in Southfield, Michigan, Burton A. Zipser, Director.

Education

Dr. Hoffman received degrees in Composition from Brandeis University (Ph.D. 1993), the New England Conservatory of Music (M.M. 1984), and The Boston Conservatory (B.M. Cum Laude 1981). His teachers included Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Yehudi Wyner, Martin Boykan, Harold Shapero, the late Arthur Berger, Chris Rozé, Larry Alan Smith and the late Hugo Norden.

Composer / Arranger / Author

(I am always interested in discussing commissions to compose new works. Please e-mail your request to me.)

Publications

Choral, vocal, keyboard, chamber and orchestral compositions published by Ione Press, a division of ECS Publishing, Boston, Massachusetts; chamber work published by Fatrock Ink, Music Publishers, Los Angeles, California; chamber work published by Wehr's Music House, Winter Park, Florida.

Extended tonality and voice leading in "Twelve Songs" Op. 27 by Alexander Zemlinsky (doctoral dissertation paper, Brandeis University, 1993) - available from UMI Dissertation Services (order number 9317084). Click here to view the dissertation abstract.

Discography

Two compilation CDs of my music, sacred and secular, spanning the years 1999-2007, are now available from ECS Publishing.

Haneirot halalu (T solo, SATB) is featured in Volume 1 of Teaching Music through Performance in Choir published by GIA. One can also order a set of audio CDs to accompany the book. The performance is by the University of North Texas Chamber Choir, Jerry McCoy, conductor. Click here and then click on "Listen" on the next page to hear their performance. This recording is used by permission of GIA Publications, Inc.

Sounds of Peace (2003) - Peace College Chamber Singers (Raleigh, NC), James S. Smith, conductor - Psalm 117 (SSAA). Click here to listen to their performance.

Lamentation and Exultation (2002, released in 2003) - ARSIS Audio Label, Boston, MA. The CD includes Psalm 23 and Psalm 121. Click here for details.

Webcasts \ Broadcasts

Webcast - Yih'yu l'ratson - (SATB) - Alegria Oda Korosu (Alegria Chamber Choir), M. Inci Tigli, conductor, June 21, 2006, Dünya Müzik Günü, Ankara, Turkey.

Alegria Oda Korosu also uses Yih'yu l'ratson as one of their Web site's theme songs, singing the music wordlessly (on a vowel), accompanied by natural sounds (such as bird songs), while images of nature and of the choir are shown.

Webcast - Psalm 117 (SSAA) - Peace College Chamber Singers (Raleigh, NC), James S. Smith, conductor - Psalm 117 (SSAA). Click here to listen to their performance.

Webcast - Poem from "Poem and Lamentations" - Susanne Stanzeleit, violin. Click here to go to www.compositiontoday.com to listen to her performance and to see the sheet music.

Broadcast - Psalm 23 from the CD Lamentation and Exultation - October 13, 2005, on the Minnesota Public Radio show "The New Releases."

Broadcast - Psalm 121 from the CD Lamentation and Exultation- September 26, 2005, between 3:00-7:00 pm on WFMT, 98.7 FM, Chicago, IL.

Broadcast - Psalm 23 and Psalm 121 from the CD Lamentation and Exultation - September 5, 2004 at 7:18 am on WUOT, 91.9 FM, University of Tennessee's National Public Radio station.

Broadcast - Psalm 23 from the CD Lamentation and Exultation - April 30, 2004, between 9:00 am-12:00 pm on WDIY, 88.1 FM, Bethlehem, PA, Lehigh Valley's National Public Radio station.

Broadcast - String Quartet (1987) - Boston Composers String Quartet - performed live on WGBH Radio, 89.7 FM, Boston, on the program "Chamber Works" - November 16, 1987.

Broadcast - Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird - Brandeis University Contemporary Ensemble, David Hoose, conductor - tape recorded broadcast, WCRB Radio, 102.5 (now 99.5) FM, Waltham/Boston - June 11, 1985.

Awards

Nature, a setting of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for SATB chorus and piano composed in 2008, has won a co-first place prize in the 2008-2009 Choral Composition Competition sponsored by The Longfellow Chorus, Charles Kaufmann, director. In addition to a cash award presented to the composer, Nature received its world premiere performances on February 28, 2009 and March 1, 2009, in Portland, Maine. Click here to see a PDF of the score and hear a performance by the Philovox Ensemble.

Anim Zemiros (A Hymn of Glory), an original setting of a traditional Hebrew Shabbat prayer for SATB chorus (divisi) unaccompanied composed in 1985, won a third place prize in the 2008 Choral Composition Competition sponsored by The New York Virtuoso Singers, Harold Rosenbaum, conductor. In addition to a cash award that was presented to the composer, Anim Zemiros received its world premiere performance on January 11, 2009, in New York City. Click here and then click on "Listen" on the next page to hear this performance. This recording is used with the kind permission of Harold Rosenbaum. The entire score may be viewed as a PDF.

"Select 20" for July/August 2003 from Creator Magazine for Yih'yu l'ratson (May the words of my mouth). Click here to see a PDF of the score. Click here to listen to a performance of this work sung in Hebrew by the Philovox ensemble, Jennifer Lester, conductor. Click here to listen to their performance of the English version.

Grant Us Peace was chosen as one of the selected works in the Waging Peace Through Singing repertoire (2002). The jury recommended this work and others for performance from 213 entries in Category II (mixed chamber chorus). Click here to see a PDF of the score. Click here to listen to a performance of this work by the Philovox ensemble, Jennifer Lester, conductor.

"Honored 10" for the year 2000 from Creator Magazine for Psalm 67. Click here to listen to a performance of this work by the Philovox ensemble, Jennifer Lester, conductor, Mark Dwyer, organist.

1984-85 Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) Award to Student Composers for Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.

Professional Experience

Editor

Chief Editor, ECS Publishing (E. C. Schirmer Music Company, Ione Press, Galaxy Music Corporation, Highgate Press), Boston, 1998- . Editor for thousands of compositions written by internationally renowned composers (such as the late George Perle, the late Daniel Pinkham and Steven Sametz, and best-selling composers such as Gwyneth Walker and Stephen Chatman) in genres ranging from full operas to solo pieces with a heavy emphasis on choral works.

Editor of Opera Aria Anthology - Volume IV (Baritone), published by ECS Publishing, winner of the First Prize in the Folio (Vocal Scores) category in the 2004 Paul Revere Awards for graphic excellence given by the Music Publishers Association.

Editor of Shakespeare Madrigals by Gregg Smith, published by ECS Publishing, winner of the First Prize in the Choral Octavo category from in the 2001 Paul Revere Awards for graphic excellence given by the Music Publishers Association.

Chief Editor, Scores International (now defunct), Boston, 1990-1998. Engraving editor for thousands of concert music pieces for numerous major publishers (including Alfred, Augsburg Fortress, Beckenhorst Press, Concordia Publishing House, ECS Publishing, European American Music, Hal Leonard, Mel Bay Publications, Neil A. Kjos, Theodore Presser, Universal Edition and Warner Brothers), and renowned composers (including Mario Davidovsky, Andrew Imbrie, Lorin Maazel, the late George Perle, Gunther Schuller, Harold Shapero, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Yehudi Wyner and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich). In the preface to Gunther Schuller’s book The Compleat Conductor (Oxford University Press, 1997), Mr. Schuller expressed his gratitude to Dr. Hoffman for the work he and Scores International did in editing the musical examples for the book. In the Acknowledgements section of The Szymanowski Collection (Universal Edition, 1997), editor David Mattingly thanked Dr. Hoffman for having "...provided inventively elegant notational solutions." Dr. Hoffman was also the engraving editor for many well-known popular music selections including Unforgettable: The Duet, Selections from "Home Alone," and Selections from "Batman Returns." While Chief Editor at Scores International, a number of the publications he edited won first and second place Paul Revere Awards for graphic excellence from the Music Publishers Association.

Conductor, Baritone and Lecturer

Conductor, baritone - Congregation B’nai Torah High Holiday Choir, Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1997-2003, 2005-2007.

Guest conductor, Zachor Choral Ensemble - Spring 1996-97 - Faneuil Hall, Boston - community-wide Holocaust memorial services.

Conductor - Temple Israel High Holiday Choir, Swampscott, Massachusetts - 1988-96.

Baritone soloist - Metropolitan Wind Symphony - world premiere performance, November 10, 1996 - Kumee Lach, the first of three songs from Dr. Hoffman's piece Selections From The Song Of Songs - Tsai Performance Center, Boston University.

Guest lecturer - October 12, 2001 - Longy School of Music - Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Guest lecturer - July 8, 1996 - Boston University Tanglewood Institute - Lenox, Massachusetts.

Audio Producer

Producer - Fall 2003 New Issue Demo CD - ECS Publishing, Boston, with the Philovox Ensemble, Jennifer Lester, director.

"...a beautiful and accessible addition to the Jewish choral repertory."
- The Choral Journal

"...intensely moving..."
- The American Organist

"...the music seems touched by genuinely personal sentiment."
- The Boston Globe

"...the music has a quiet radiance to it... Very attractive setting!"
- The Diapason

"The music shines... Highly recommended."
"Well done."
- Creator Magazine