Noah Farber — Agora Dance

Composer

Born in Philadelphia in 1974, NOAH FARBER began piano lessons at the age of 5 with Julia Vieland. During high school he attended Temple University’s Boyer School’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians, studying piano there with Rorian Schrade. In 1991 he began his studies with Temple’s Harvey Wedeen, and around this time he was featured as a piano soloist in the “Mozart on the Square Festival” and with the Ocean City Pops Orchestra in Ocean City, NJ. Noah began to compose seriously around 1990. A Rhapsody (1990) and Piano Sonata (1991) were both performed at Luzerne Music Center’s summer program in the Adirondacks. While majoring in music at the University of Pennsylvania, he studied composition, counterpoint, and modern orchestration techniques with Jay Reise, James Primosch, and Haim Purmont. His improvised solo-piano dance music serves as the background for WHYY’s film documentary “Ballet at the Rock” (2000). In 2006, his Sonata for Violin and Piano and String Quartet were featured in a concert at The Performance Garage in Philadelphia. Some commissioned works include a short string trio “Elegy for St. Peter” (1999) and a piece for Children’s String Orchestra “The Bashful Bunny Rabbit” (2004). Farber has also composed numerous other uncommissioned works. Mr. Farber’s career as a dance accompanist began in 1997 at the Rock School (then the official school of the Pennsylvania Ballet). Since then Mr. Farber has worked regularly with several college dance programs, including those of Bryn Mawr College, Temple University, Drexel University, Swarthmore College and The University of the Arts. Besides the new School of Pennsylvania Ballet and the Rock School, he has worked with several professional dance organizations, including the Gwendolyn Bye Studio, and Jeanne Ruddy Dance Ensemble, and Philadanco. He was the primary rehearsal pianist for the children in the Pennsylvania Ballet’s annual production of “The Nutcracker” from 2002 to 2015. Other musical projects have included his work with Le Cabaret Melange (2004-6) and with an alt-jazz group, “Blue Scheme” (2000-05).