David Amram—called “the Renaissance Man of American Music” by The Boston Globe—has been a musician and composer since the early 1950s. Appointed by Leonard Bernstein as the first Composer In Residence for the New York Philharmonic in 1966, he is now one of the most performed and influential composers of our time.

His most popular recent symphonic compositions include This Land, Symphonic Variations On A Song By Woody Guthrie (2007), commissioned by the Guthrie Foundation; Giants of the Night (2002), commissioned and premiered by flutist Sir James Galway; Kokopeli, A Symphony in Three Movements (1995); Three Songs, A Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2009); Greenwich Village Portraits for Alto Saxophone and String Orchestra (2018); and Partners: A Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra (2018).

Amram has composed the scores for many films, including Pull My Daisy, Splendor In The Grass, The Manchurian Candidate, and Barbara Kopple´s 2018 documentary New Homeland, about Iraqi and Syrian refugees in Canada. He continues to tour internationally as a guest conductor, soloist, multi-instrumentalist, and bandleader at music festivals. He has received numerous awards, including the first annual Lifetime Achievement Award from Folk Music International, and a special award by Farm Aid for 30 years of annual musical collaborations with Willie Nelson and his band to help support America´s family farmers through music.

Amram was composer in residence for the The New York Chamber Music Festival’s 2016-2017 season. He is currently composing Global Suite for Winds, Brass and Percussion for the Harvard Wind Orchestra and three chamber works, as well as completing his fourth book. In the 2020-21 season, his 90th birthday is being celebrated with concerts and premieres of his works in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities across the globe. The prize-winning documentary David Amram: The First Eighty Years, is available on Vimeo On Demand.