Keith Kramer is a composer of over 40 works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, and electronic media. Kramer’s music is at times subtle and restrained, and other times ferocious and demanding. Always searching for new modes of expression, each piece that Kramer composes represents another facet of a continuous journey of discovery. Kramer’s music has also been performed and recorded by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, David Taylor, Leonard Garrison, and many others. Recent performances of his work include two highly successful all-Kramer programs at New York’s Merkin Hall, documented on the DVD Beyond Sonic Boundaries Live! Additional all-Kramer releases include the critically acclaimed albums Causal Dualism and Emerge. Kramer’s work Sogni was recently premièred and toured by acclaimed British pianist Martin Jones and a European première of his work Rinnovo, for piano and percussion, featured internationally renowned pianist Anna D’Errico. Kramer’s work Suspension of Disbelief for piano trio enjoyed its New York City premiere at Carnegie Hall in 2019.

News

March 30, 2023

Artist Roundtable: The Composers of LONDON CELLO CONNECTION

Albums

London Cello Connection

Release Date: March 10, 2023
Catalog Number: NV6514
21st Century
Orchestral
Cello
Orchestra
Eight exceptional composers, eight premiere recordings with a legendary orchestra, and one spectacular soloist: LONDON CELLO CONNECTION is a captivating compendium of contemporary compositions by celebrated cellist Ovidiu Marinescu and the London Symphony Orchestra with conductor Miran Vaupotić. Marinescu’s emotive, lush sound and superb technical command provides the continuous thread throughout the program, from the elegant “Sarabande” by Marvin Lamb to Arthur Gottschalk’s regal “Brunetti Meditations” to the shimmering, pulsing “Soul Dance” of Diane Jones, connecting and contrasting each of these works and others by John Robertson, Katherine Price, Joanna Estelle, L Peter Deutsch, and Keith Kramer. Recorded in June 2022 at the LSO’s St. Luke’s Church, the historic site on London’s Old Street which dates to 1733 and was restored to become home to the orchestra’s recording, community, and music education programs.

Moto Quarto

Release Date: July 12, 2019
Catalog Number: NV6237
21st Century
Chamber
String Quartet
Acclaimed international piano trio Trio Casals makes a triumphant return with the fourth installment of Navona Records' MOTO series, zestfully interpreting nine new American compositions – virtually all of them either tailor-made or arranged for the ensemble. The opening track, Three for Three by David Nisbet Stewart, could almost be considered a neoclassical piano trio – if you're thinking along the lines of Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges. Like his Russian predecessor, Stewart chose to endow his composition with a perspicacious structure, along which the motives and modulations climb like vines on a trellis.

Flare

Release Date: August 10, 2018
Catalog Number: NV6177
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Large Ensemble
Piano
Saxophone
Navona Records proudly presents Flare, recordings by members of the Society of Composers, Inc. Now in its 32nd installment, it offers a veritable cross-section of some of the most original voices in composition today. The album opens with 19-year-old Vaibhav Mohanty's Rhapsody No. 1 (2017), traveling through elements of Western classical composition, jazz, and Indian traditional music with such well-proportioned naturalness and ease, it bears all the telltale signs of an instant repertoire classic.

Causal Dualism

Release Date: October 1, 2012
Catalog Number: NV5886
21st Century
Chamber
Orchestral
Saxophone
String Orchestra
Trombone
CAUSAL DUALISM, Keith Kramer's second full-length release on Navona, is a celebration of dichotomy and relationships between all things. Duality, for soprano, saxophone, bass trombone, and string quartet, explores the interaction and relationships of the ensemble; Causality represents the string orchestra's journey of expression and highlights the action and reaction that permeates through all events; Flame of Attention, for soprano saxophone, the beginning of a long-term collaboration between the composer and Gottfried Stoger.

Emerge

Release Date: September 1, 2011
Catalog Number: NV5859
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Large Ensemble
Piano
EMERGE is a two-disc album featuring the works of Boston-based composer Keith Kramer. Kramer's constant search for new modes of expression through music nestles itself into his music, and each piece represents another discovery in his search. His exploratory journey has helped him create a prolific catalog of music, ranging from the subtle and restrained to the ferocious and demanding.