Born: 1955

Place of Birth: Long Beach, NY

One of America’s most acclaimed composers of vocal music, Lori Laitman’s oeuvre includes over 200 art songs setting the words of classical and contemporary poets, as well as a unique body of music commemorating the Holocaust. Her MOR premieres include Holocaust 1944 (November 2000), Fathers (April 2003), and her first MOR commission, The Seed of Dream (May 2005). Her Holocaust-themed chamber opera, Come To Me in Dreams, had its premiere at Cleveland Opera in 2004. Laitman’s opera The Scarlet Letter, to David Mason’s adaptation of the Hawthorne classic, was commissioned and presented by the University of Central Arkansas in 2008, and will be presented by Opera Colorado in 2013. Laitman and Mason are collaborating on the opera Ludlow, based on Mason’s epic verse novel. Her music has been released on Albany, Naxos, Channel Classics, and other labels. A “Featured Composer” on songofamerica.net, Thomas Hampson’s website, Laitman received her B.A. and M.M. from Yale University.