Composer Avner Dorman is a friend of YouTube

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Israeli composer Avner Dorman has been garnerning a lot of attention recently for his eclectic body of work that mixes influences from the Middle East, Europe and Asia. On Tuesday, his percussion concerto ‘Spices, Perfumes, Toxins!’ will play at the Hollywood Bowl, marking Dorman’s debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

If you can’t make the concert, Dorman suggests you check out the above YouTube video of the Israeli Philharmonic playing ‘Spices’ under the baton of Zubin Mehta. Unlike many composers and musicians, Dorman says he has no problem with people consuming his work for free on the Internet.

‘Yeah, I’m totally fine with that. In fact, I encourage them to do it,’ he says. ‘It’s a great way to get acquainted with my work. And since that video has gone on YouTube, I’ve had a lot of orchestras express interest in performing that work. So it’s worked out really well.’

‘Spices’ will feature the Israeli percussion duo of Adi Morag and Tomer Yariv, who perform under the name PercaDu. The soloists play several instruments throughout the piece, including the marimbas, glockenspiel, xylophone, two drum sets and customized metal implements.

Dorman says ‘Spices’ is one of his most accessible pieces: ‘With all three substances, if you follow them too far, they can be dangerous. So that was the musical idea.’

Read our entire conversation with Dorman from Sunday’s Arts & Books section.

-- David Ng