Fox Cities News

Concert pianist Michael Mizrahi is an advocate for contemporary classical music. "I’ve made it part of my mission as an artist to bring new music into the world," said Mizrahi, the Frank C. Shattuck Professor of Music at Lawrence University.

His third solo piano album, Dreamspace, available June 14 on the Sono Luminus label, features new works from eight composers, three of whom have direct Lawrence connections. Joanne Metcalf, a colleague in the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, contributed a piece titled The Undreaming. Composers Evan Williams ’10 and David Werfelmann ’06 are Lawrence alumni—Williams composed The Red Devil Dreams of Numbers and Werfelmann wrote Suite à l'antique.

"The longer I’ve been here, the deeper my connections have grown," said Mizrahi, who has been on the Lawrence faculty since 2009.

Dreamspace is available as a CD and on vinyl, as well as on music streaming services.

Mizrahi has received acclaim for his artistic excellence and has performed at renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and the Chicago Cultural Center. He is a founding member of NOW Ensemble, a chamber group dedicated to commissioning and performing new music by emerging composers. NOW Ensemble released its seventh album, Before and After, in 2021.

Mizrahi's previous solo albums include The Bright Motion (2012) and Currents (2016), both featuring newly commissioned works for solo piano. He planned to record Dreamspace in 2020 but was delayed by the COVID pandemic. "I had a recording date booked and everything," Mizrahi said. "But we all know how 2020 went."

Many pieces were written specifically for Mizrahi, highlighting his strengths in rhythmic vitality and exploring sonic possibilities within traditional piano playing. "I think this album is a little more mellow than my other albums," he noted.

The title Dreamspace reflects themes present in three of the pieces that reference dreams or nighttime imagery. "I kept coming back to that imagery," Mizrahi said.

He emphasized his commitment to elevating new music and expanding the 21st-century repertoire for piano. "It’s not just OK; I played it; let’s move on to the next thing," he stated. "It’s getting it out there for other people to play; getting it to students; getting it to colleagues."

Mizrahi believes in giving back through his art—a lesson he imparts to his students at the Conservatory. "We talk a lot about bringing forward compositional voices that maybe don’t get as much airtime... Whether it is composers from marginalized groups or recently discovered music or newly written pieces."

Dreamspace also includes works from Andrea Mazzariello, Mark Dancigers, Yiheng Yvonne Wu, Chiayu Hsu, and Alan Shockley—all past collaborators with Mizrahi.

"Those of us who are fortunate enough... should bring new works into the world," he said.

Mizrahi holds degrees from the University of Virginia (bachelor's) and Yale School of Music (master's and doctoral). Outside academia, he fosters partnerships between Lawrence’s Conservatory of Music and the community through projects like Music For All and immersive summer programs launching in 2024: Lawrence Summer Music Institute (July 14-21) for advanced high school pianists/strings players and Lawrence Chamber Music Festival (July 21-August 4) for advanced instrumentalists ages 18+.

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