Kirk Nurock

Composer/pianist Kirk Nurock eschews the boundaries of genre, having worked with some of the greatest names in Broadway, classical music, and of course, jazz. He orchestrated for Dizzy Gillespie and Leonard Bernstein, composed a work for 20 voices and 3 canines which he conducted at Carnegie Hall, and won a scholarship at age 16, awarded by Duke Ellington. Nurock's diverse compositions or arrangements have been performed or recorded by the likes of Nat Adderley, Jane Ira Bloom, Tom Harrell, Dick Hyman, The Israel Philharmonic, Arnie Lawrence, David "Fathead" Newman, New World Symphony, Hank Jones and Bobby Previte.

His long-time associations with vocalists Theo Bleckmann, Jay Clayton, Miles Griffith, Judy Niemack and Janis Siegel have led to a large body of "jazz-art" songs including settings of poetry by Shakespeare and Dickinson. A video documentary, "Animalsong," directed by Burrill Crohn, chronicles his compositions for human chorus and the animals of the Bronx Zoo. A graduate of Juilliard, Kirk is on the composition faculty of the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.

Visit Kirk's website for more information.