Herschel Garfein is a twice GRAMMY®-winning composer, writer, and director. “His music and themes are deeply American and rooted in the mores of Gens X and Y” (Time Out New York). His song-cycle Mortality Mansions (with poet Donald Hall) has been praised as “one of the most deeply moving and impressive vocal works of the twenty-first century” (Journal of Singing). His recent orchestral work for baritone Keith Phares and American Modern Ensemble King of the River (based on a Stanley Kunitz poem) was hailed as “a marvelous piece of descriptive modernism… a smashing premiere.” (Blog Critics). Earlier work: music and libretto for the opera Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead based on the play by Tom Stoppard; conceiving, writing, and directing My Coma Dreams for composer/pianist Fred Hersch; the landmark dance trilogy Mythologies for choreographer Mark Morris.