Peter Goddard Lieberson (25 October 1946 – 23 April 2011, aged 64) was an American composer ofcontemporary classical music.[1] His song cycles include two finalists for thePulitzer Prize for Music:Rilke Songs andNeruda Songs; the latter won the 2008Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition and both were written for his wife, the mezzo-sopranoLorraine Hunt Lieberson. His three piano concertos were each premiered by the pianistPeter Serkin, with the1st and3rd also being Pulitzer finalists.
Peter Goddard Lieberson was born inNew York City. He was the son ofballerina andchoreographerVera Zorina (née Eva Brigitta Hartwig) andGoddard Lieberson, president ofColumbia Records. Lieberson studiedcomposition withMilton Babbitt,Charles Wuorinen,Donald Martino, andMartin Boykan.[2] After completing his musical studies atColumbia University, he left New York in 1976 forBoulder,Colorado, to continue his studies withChögyam Trungpa, aTibetanVajrayanaBuddhist master. It was there he met and married Ellen Kearney, a fellow student of Trungpa's. At their teacher's request, the Liebersons moved from Boulder toBoston, Massachusetts, to co-directShambhala Training, a meditation and cultural program.[3] Lieberson earned a Ph.D. fromBrandeis University. From 1984 to 1988 he taught atHarvard University. He then became international director of Halifax Shambhala Centre inHalifax, Nova Scotia.[4]
Beginning in 1994, Lieberson devoted his time entirely to composition. He met his second wife,mezzo-sopranoLorraine Hunt Lieberson, in 1997, during theSanta Fe Opera production of his workAshoka's Dream; they married in 1999 after Lieberson and his first wife were divorced. He wrote his song cyclesRilke Songs andNeruda Songs for Hunt Lieberson. TheNeruda Songs, a cycle of songs set to love poems byPablo Neruda, were co-commissioned by theLos Angeles Philharmonic and theBoston Symphony; the world premiere was given on 20 May 2005, by theLos Angeles Philharmonic withEsa-Pekka Salonen conducting and Hunt Lieberson as soloist.[5] TheBoston Symphony performed the work in November 2005 with Hunt Lieberson as soloist andJames Levine conducting, followed by performances with theCleveland Orchestra,Robert Spano conducting. Hunt Lieberson died ofbreast cancer in July 2006, aged 52.[6]Nonesuch released a commercial recording of the Boston/Levine performance of theNeruda Songs in 2006.[7]
In December 2007, Lieberson won the 2008University of LouisvilleGrawemeyer Award for Music Composition forNeruda Songs.[8] Two different recordings of theRilke Songs but Hunt Lieberson, one a studio production and the other a concert recording, have also been issued on theBridge Records, Inc. label.[9]
Lieberson was commissioned by theBoston Symphony to compose another cycle of Neruda songs, which became theSongs of Love and Sorrow. When he returned to the work, it was no longer simply a memorial and farewell to Hunt Lieberson, but also reflected the influence of his daughters and his third wife, Rinchen Lhamo.[10] Lieberson had three daughters from his first marriage, all of whom are members of the bandTEEN.[11]
Shortly after Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's death, Lieberson was diagnosed withlymphoma. Despite the debilitating effects of the illness and its treatment, Lieberson went on composing. Though thought to have achieved full remission,[8] he died from complications of the disease in 2011 inTel Aviv, Israel.[12] He had been living inSanta Fe, New Mexico, at the time of his death.
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