Jeffrey Biegel is one of today's most respected artists and has created a multi-faceted career as a pianist, composer and arranger. His electrifying technique and mesmerizing touch has won critical acclaim and garners praise throughout the world. Mr. Biegel recently combined his performing and arranging gifts in the new 'Symphonic Fantasies for Piano and Orchestra' based on four of Billy Joel's classical compositions from Fantasies and Delusions. His creation is a virtuosic transcription consisting of four solo piano pieces, assisted by Phillip Keveren in the orchestration. The World Premiere took place at the Eastern Music Festival, Stuart Malina conducting, and is followed by performances with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Boris Brott Festival and the New Hampshire, Harrisburg and Brevard (FL) symphony orchestras in the 2006-07 season.

The career of pianist Jeffrey Biegel has been marked by bold, creative achievements and highlighted by a series of firsts: He envisioned and performed the first live internet recitals in New York and Amsterdam in 1997 and 1998, enabling him to be seen and heard by a global audience. In 1999, he assembled the largest consortium of orchestras (over 25), to celebrate the millennium with a new concerto composed for him by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. The 'Millennium Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra' was premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 1997, he performed the Boston premiere of the restored, original 1924 manuscript of George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' with the Boston Pops. He transcribed the first edition of Balakirev's 'Islamey Fantasy' for piano and orchestra, which he premiered with the American Symphony Orchestra in 2001. Charles Strouse composed a new work titled 'Concerto America' for Mr. Biegel, premiered with the Boston Pops in 2002.

Mr. Biegel assembled the first global commissioning project featuring 18 orchestras performing Lowell Liebermann's 'Concerto no. 3 for Piano and Orchestra' composed exclusively for him by Mr. Liebermann for the 2006-07-08 seasons. The World Premiere took place with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andreas Delfs on May 12-14, 2006. The European Premiere takes place with the Schleswig Holstein Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gerard Oskamp in February 2007.
Until the age of 3, Mr. Biegel was unable to hear nor speak, until corrected by surgery. The 'reverse Beethoven' phenomenon can explain Mr. Biegel's life in music, having heard only vibrations in his formative years. Born a second-generation American, Mr. Biegel's roots are of Russian and Austrian heritage. A Russian cousin, pianist Herman Kosoff, emigrated to the United States in the early 20th century, and had been accepted into the class of the great Leopold Godowsky in Austria. Mr. Biegel's grandmother's cousin, Dr. Sonia Slatin, was a graduate of Columbia University who actively performed and also taught Schenkerian analysis at Brooklyn College.

Mr. Biegel's recording of Leroy Anderson's 'Concerto in C' for Naxos, with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin in April 2006 will be released on the Naxos label as part of the complete Leroy Anderson catalogue of works. In addition, American composer Richard Danielpour will compose a new work for Mr. Biegel, also for piano and orchestra, slated for the 2008-09 season. American composer, Daniel Dorff, has also composed his 'Concerto for Piano and Orchestra' for Mr. Biegel, with the World Premiere scheduled with the Etowah Youth Orchestra in Gadsden, Alabama, in May 2007, Mike Gaglairdo conducting, followed by the New York Premiere in Carnegie Hall, in June 2007, also with the Etowah Youth Orchestra.

Among his recent guest appearances with orchestra, Mr. Biegel performed Leroy Anderson's 'Concerto in C' with the Boston Pops conducted by Keith Lockhart in Boston's Symphony Hall. In addition, he substituted for the late pianist John Browning to perform the World Premiere of Marjorie Rusche's 'Dreaming the Rag Waltz Blues' and Beethoven's 'Concerto no. 1 in C Major' with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tsung Yeh. During a tour of Germany, he performed the World Premiere of Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons for Piano and String Orchestra' with members of the Schleswig Holstein Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to his concert activities, Mr. Biegel and his son, Craig, co-composed 'The World In Our Hands', published by the Hal

Leonard Corporation. It reflects the events of 9-11 with a vision for hope and peace, and has been performed in Africa, Ireland, and throughout the U.S. The Hal Leonard Corporation has also published 'Christmas In A Minute', an SATB choral version of Chopin's 'Minute Waltz' as well as his arrangement of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' for SATB divisi a cappella choir. The orchestration for 'Christmas In A Minute' by Kermit Poling is available through MMB Music, which can be performed by soloist and orchestra, or with choir and orchestra. Mr. Biegel received a commission to compose a new work for SSA choir with the chosen text, 'Hey Ho, The Wind and the Rain' from William Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', and is published by the Hal Leonard Corporation. 'Hey Ho, The Wind and the Rain' is featured on a new cd recorded by Voci Nobili, the prize-winning Norwegian women's choir conducted by Maria Helbekkmo. Voci Nobili also performed the work in New York's Merkin Hall. His most recent choral compositions include 'A Different Kind of Hero', an arrangement of 'The Christmas Song' for SATB a cappella choir, and 'Ho Ho Hanukah, Ho Ho Christmas' which receives its premiere in 2006.

Mr. Biegel performed Duke Ellington's 'New World A-Comin'' with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, Pinchas Steinberg conducting. On January 8, 2001, he appeared on ABC-TV's Good Morning America, followed by a performance with the American Symphony Orchestra led by Vahktang Jordania in New York's Avery Fisher Hall. The program featured the World Premiere of Mr. Biegel's transcription of Balakirev's 'Islamey Fantaisie Orientale' for piano and orchestra, the restored original 1924 manuscript of George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's 'Peanuts Gallery'.

PianoDisc (the player piano system manufacturer) has released Mr. Biegel's recording, 'Rare Gems of the Golden Age', 'Best of David Foster', 'Best of Josh Groban', and releases 'Classical Carols' in 2006. In addition, his solo transcription of the complete 'Four Seasons' by Vivaldi with Grieg's 'Suite in the Antique Style (Holberg)' is avaliable for the Yamaha Corporation's downloadable PianoSoft product for disklavier.

In 1997, he performed the original 1924 manuscript of Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' with the Boston Pops (covered by CNN, ABC-TV, NPR, CBC Canada, Associated Press and USA Today). He has subsequently performed the 1924 manuscript with orchestras across the United States, including the St. Louis Symphony, the Israel Chamber Orchestra conducted by Philippe Entremont at the Kravis Center (West Palm Beach, Fla.). He has also presented the German Premiere of the work with the Bochumer Symphoniker led by Steven Sloane and the Scandinavian Premiere with the Bergen Philharmonic led by Michael Stern in Norway, April 2001.
Mr. Biegel presented the first American real audio/video cybercast piano recital in July 1997 from New York's Steinway Hall (featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal Report syndicated TV feature, Voice of America, WNYC Public Radio). He subsequently performed the first European real audio/video cybercast piano recital from Amsterdam. The New York recital appeared on CD through Angelok1 and is now available for online download distribution.

Sought after by today's composers to present their own new works, Mr. Biegel has recorded the World Premiere of veteran composer Lalo Schifrin's 'Piano Concerto No. 2 - The Americas' with the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Munich Radio Orchestra). This is featured in the current motion picture soundtrack titled Something to Believe In, which was released in 1998 on Aleph Records and was produced by the legendary British producer Lord Lew Grade. In addition, he has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Saint Louis, Pittsburgh and the National Symphony Orchestras, the Tokyo, New Japan, Hong Kong, Oslo, Bergen, Buffalo and BBC Philharmonics, Japanese Shinsei Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Danish National Radio Orchestra, Germany's State Symphony of Augsburg, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestre de Monte Carlo, Orchestre de Radio France, Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux, Palermo's Orchestra della Teatro Massimo, Turkey's Istanbul Symphony, Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Izmir Symphony and the Ensemble Orchestral de France in Paris' Theatre des Champs-Elysées.

In 1985, Leonard Bernstein said of pianist Jeffrey Biegel: 'He played fantastic Liszt. He is a splendid musician and a brilliant performer.' These comments helped to launch Mr. Biegel's 1986 New York recital debut, as the recipient of the coveted Juilliard William Petschek Piano Debut Award, in Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Alice Tully Hall. He has been heard in recital in New York, Boston, Washington DC, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Cincinnati, London, Paris, Tokyo, Oslo, Mexico City and has undertaken a 13 concert tour of Norway. In 1992, Jeffrey Biegel made his Carnegie Hall debut performing Liszt's 'Concerto no. 1 in E flat Major', and, in 1995, gave the New York premiere of Leroy Anderson's brilliant 'Concerto in C' in Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops, conducted by Skitch Henderson. Mr. Biegel has appeared as guest soloist in New York's Mostly Mozart Festival and Chautauqua Music Festival, Chicago's Grant Park Music Festival and Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival, France's Festivale Internationale de Colmar. He has also toured France and Spain as guest soloist with the Orchestre de Philharmoniques des Pays de la Loire.

Early in 1994, Jeffrey Biegel's debut CD - the first integral set of Cesar Cui's stunningly virtuosic '25 Preludes, Opus 64' - was released on the Marco Polo label. Mr. Biegel's edition is now available through Mr. Biegel directly.
Jeffrey Biegel was the unanimous recipient of the prestigious First Grand Prize in the 1989 Marguerite Long International Piano Competition and the First Prize in the 1985 William Kapell/University of Maryland International Piano Competition. He studied at the famed Juilliard School from 1979-85 with the legendary artist/teacher Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of Josef Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel. He made his New York orchestral debut in 1983 performing Prokofiev's 'Concerto no. 2 in g minor' with the Juilliard Philharmonia, in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. Mr. Biegel's article, 'Soviet Saga', based on a tour of the former Soviet Union with the Seattle Chamber Music Society, was featured in the July/August 1988 issue of Clavier, as well as a memorial tribute to Adele Marcus, which appeared in the December 1995 issue of Piano and Keyboard.

An avid choral music composer, his setting of 'The Elegy of Anne Boleyn' is published by Earthsongs, and several compositions are published by the Hal Leonard Corporation. His transcription of Balakirev's 'Islamey' for piano and orchestra is available for rental through Theodore Presser Inc., Antoine Reicha's 'Symphonie Concertante for Two Celli and Orchestra' scored and edited by Mr. Biegel is available through Mr. Biegel directly. Mr. Biegel has also penned pop ballads, 'Thanks To Our Love', lyrics by Jud Newborn, 'His Touch,' and 'In My Eyes'.

In keeping with technology in the early years of ringtones, Mr. Biegel has created over 400 downloadable ringtones for www.mobiletones.com based in the United Kingdom. The monophonic ringtones range from the Baroque Period through the 21st Century. He also created over 60 holiday ringtones for the company available during the holiday season.
Mr. Biegel is currently on the piano faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, a City University of New York (CUNY), and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He resides in New York with his wife, Sharon, and their sons Craig and Evan.