Michael Hersch

Michael Hersch is a composer-pianist like many great figures in the classical tradition, but he writes music in other genres as well. He is among the most highly regarded contemporary American composers. Hersch's compositional career began while he was still a student, with such works as the Sonata No. 1 for unaccompanied cello (1994). His output includes orchestral works, concertante pieces, opera, chamber music, vocal music, choral music, and an unusually large group of works for a solo instrument. Hersch turned to opera in 2014 with On the Threshold of Winter, which dealt with terminal illness and was inspired by the death of one of the composer's close friends. By 2022, when Hersch's The Script of Storms appeared on an album by Ensemble Klang, more than 25 of Hersch's compositions had been recorded.