Mira J. Spektor

Composer Mira J. Spektor was born in Europe, graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, and then studied at Mannes and Juilliard.  In 1975, she founded the acclaimed Aviva Players, dedicated to presenting the rich repertoire of chamber music and songs by women composers from the 12th to 21st Centuries. The New York Times called her “An interesting composer” and “attractive and tonal,” with music described as “A passionate duet” and “A sprightly songfest.”

Spektor’s compositions include chamber opera Villa Diodati (about Mary Shelley, with lyrics by Colette Inez, Byron, Spektor, and Shelley); folk-opera Giovanni The Fearless (with a libretto by Carolyn Balducci); chamber opera Lady of the Castle based on Lea Goldberg’s Israeli play about the hidden children of the Holocaust; chamber opera The Passion of Lizzie Borden (on poems by Ruth Whitman); and the feminist off-broadway musical The Housewives’ Cantata (with lyrics by June Siegel). Film scores include DOUBLE EDGE with Faye Dunaway and music for the PBS-TV documentaries ART IN ITS SOUL and SERIOUS COMICS, as well as the new opera-film VILLA DIODATI from Bank Street Films, released by Albany Records and available on PBS ALLARTS. She released an album of her music, Summer & Winter Songs, on Navona Records in 2019.

Spektor has written many English, French, and German songs heard in the United States, Europe, and Israel, and she has recorded on Westminster, Concert Hall Records, Guilde Internationale du Disque, Original Cast Records, Capstone, and AirPlay. Her memberships include BMI, Dramatists Guild, Opera America, League of Professional Theater Women, and NYWC, and she is on the Board of the Musicians’ Club of New York. Her poetry has been published in numerous small presses as well as two collections of her work, From Seaside Houses and The Road to November. Spektor resides in New York City.