Lera Auerbach

Source: in medias

Lera Auerbach’s journey into the world of art began as a poet, with several publications to her name even before she turned eighteen. Born in 1973 in Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains, she was a virtuosic pianist from early childhood and composed her first opera at the age of twelve. In 1991, during a concert tour in the United States, she spontaneously decided at just 17 to remain in New York – without a safety net and without speaking English – while the Soviet Union stood on the brink of historic collapse. She seized her freedom and began a new life in the United States, where she was later granted American citizenship in recognition of her extraordinary talent. In addition, the Austrian government awarded her citizenship in 2021 for her significant contributions to music and the arts, underscoring her international impact. She studied piano and composition at the Juilliard School and comparative literature at Columbia University. In 2002, she completed her concert exam at the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover. That same year, she made her debut at Carnegie Hall with her Suite for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra together with Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica. Over the past three decades, Auerbach has composed around 180 works and collaborated with all of the world’s major orchestras, from the New York Philharmonic to the Staatskapelle Dresden. Her music has been performed in prestigious concert halls and at leading festivals, from Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Musikverein to the Salzburg Festival. She composed the ballet The Little Mermaid in collaboration with choreographer John Neumeier. Again and again, her music engages with contemporary events and pressing social themes: her Violin Concerto No. 2 bears the title September 11, and her Russian Requiem addressed state repression in her native country as early as 2006. Her oeuvre also includes the Ode to Peace, commissioned by the Staatskapelle Dresden, Symphony No. 4 Arctica, commissioned by the National Geographic Society, and Symphony No. 6 Vessels of Light, which explores the fragmentation and healing of a divided world. As a poet of both words and music, her literary work spans volumes of poetry and prose, novellas, and numerous contributions to newspapers and magazines. Auerbach was named “Poet of the Year” by the International Pushkin Society, and her first English-language book, Excess of Being, explores the art of the aphorism. In 2022, her children’s book A is for Oboe (Random House) received the AudioFile Best Audiobook Award, and she was honored with the Robert Creeley Memorial Award, which led to the publication of her poetry manuscript Forever Music. She also continues to be active as a visual artist. Today, her work as a conductor stands at the center of her artistic life. This role enriches her creative voice and expands her legacy, allowing her to bring her unique vision to symphonic stages around the world. “There is no reason to keep anything in its cage and not let it connect,” says Lera Auerbach. “For me, you must feel that your art is larger than life. Art – be it music, visual art, or literature – is what remains of our time.”