Marlborough – Marlborough resident Mark Berger has been named a semi-finalist in the nationwide Rapido! Composition Contest. This “quick fire” composition contest (modeled after the 48-hour film contest format) challenges composers of all levels from all 50 states to compose a short chamber work in a 14-day period.
Boston Musica Viva will perform Berger's entry, “Dream Dances,” as part of its concert.
Berger is a performer in the Boston freelance scene and has performed with many of Boston's finest orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Esplanade, Emmanuel Music, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Opera Boston, and Boston Lyric Opera. An avid chamber musician, he is a member of Music at Eden's Edge and the Worcester Chamber Music Society;? has a duo partnership, “The Two Composers,” with pianist/composer Ketty Nez; and has performed with the Lydian String Quartet and Radius Ensemble. He also regularly appears with many of Boston's new music ensembles, including Sound Icon, ALEA III and Ludovico Ensemble.? Berger has performed at summer festivals including Kneisel Hall and Tanglewood, where he was a member of the New Fromm Players, new music ensemble-in-residence.
As a composer, Berger's works have been presented by the New York New Music Ensemble, Dinosaur Annex, ALEA III, the Worcester Chamber Music Society, Xanthos Ensemble, Music at Eden's Edge, QX String Quartet, and the Lydian String Quartet, as well as nationally and internationally by the Third Coast Percussion Quartet, Ensemble Permutaciones (Mexico) and the Hellenic Ensemble of Contemporary Music (Greece).
Berger has received awards from the League of Composers/ISCM and ASCAP, and he has received grants from NEFA and the Brannen-Cooper Fund.? He received degrees from Boston University and Brandeis University, and currently teaches courses at Boston College, UMass-Lowell and Middlesex Community College, and is a member of the string faculty at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
