Judith Clurman, Conductor
Contact: jclurman (@) gmail.com
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“Judith Clurman – the exceptional conductor”
— Time Out New York
About Judith Clurman
Judith Clurman is the musical director for Essential Voices USA and The Singing Christmas Tree Float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (NBC). Her Essential Voices USA appeared at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and on NPR’S Tiny Desk Concerts. She is collaborating on various choral projects for 2023 and beyond.
Above: Judith Clurman, conductor, rehearsal video with Essential Voices USA
Judith has worked with many of the world’s finest symphonies, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St Luke’s, the American Composer’s Orchestra, and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. She previously conducted The New York Concert Singers, a group that appeared on Lincoln Center’s Great Performers and Carnegie Hall’s concert series. Highlights of her career include conducting performances at the Mozarteum Grosser Saal in Salzburg, the nationally televised “Music of the Spirit” (NBC and PBS), the choral music for the SONY movie The Song of Names, and the nationally televised July 4th Macy’s Fireworks Spectacular (NBC), with the Diva Jazz Orchestra. In addition, she conducted the complete canons for Lincoln Center’s Mozart Bicentennial, which included World and US Premieres of the versions of the music that were found in Constanze Mozart’s edition of the music; the US Premiere of the original edition of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle; the World Premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s arrangement of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue; and the US premiere of music by Phillip Glass and Arvo Paert.
“Working with Judith Clurman is always a delight. She’s so professional and such a superb musician, that I always know the end result will be incredible…a great thing for a composer to know.”
— Jennifer Higdon
She has commissioned and conducted new works by over seventy composers, including works by Samuel Adler, Tzvi Avni, Milton Babbitt, William Bolcom, Jason Robert Brown, Shawn Crouch, Bill Cutter, Marvin Hamlisch, Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon, Katie Jenkins, Laura Karpman, Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, Andrew Lippa, Tania Léon, David Ludwig, Nico Muhly, Stephen Paulus, Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, Joshua Schmidt, Howard Shore, Roberto Sierra, Mark Sirett, and Stephen Schwartz. She has received two Emmy nominations, one for music direction and composition (Sesame Street, Season 39) and one for outstanding original song (Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – “The Holidays Are Here”). She conducted Tania Léon’s music on the Grammy and Latin Grammy nominated CD, In Motion.
“Over the years I have attended hundreds of performances of The Sound Of Music. Last month’s Salzburg performance was extraordinary. Ms. Clurman provided adroit musical direction. With vibrant integrity, Judith Clurman’s The Sound Of Music Suite was refreshingly expressive, wonderfully inventive and simply elegant.”
— Elisabeth Von Trapp
As an educator, Judith was Director of Choral Activities at The Juilliard School from 1989-2007 where she created and conducted the Juilliard Choral Union and taught conducting and vocal chamber music. She has served as a visiting artist/teacher at University of Cambridge, Curtis Institute of Music, Harvard University, Princeton University, the Janacek Academy, and Israel’s Zimriya Festival at Hebrew University, and was the vocal specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts/Columbia University Institute of Classical Music. She currently teaches voice and ensemble voice at the Manhattan School of Music.
“The group sang with ravishing smoothness and warmth and with complete flexibility in dynamics and coloration.”
— The New York Times
Judith is a member of ASCAP, ASCAP’s Special Classification Committee, and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She edits two choral series, with over 100 publications for Hal Leonard. Her own music and have been performed by the Detroit, Houston, New Jersey, National, San Francisco, and Toronto Symphonies, and the Boston and New York Pops. Her work can be heard on the Acis, Delos, Decca and New World labels.
“Clurman’s singers offer brilliantly rich sound, fluent musicality and sophisticated wide-ranging expression. The term virtuoso would be no hyperbole.”
— American Organist
Judith is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
“Clurman is an outstanding choral conductor.”
– New York Daily News
