Herschel Garfein
Herschel Garfein (born January 17, 1958) is an American composer, librettist, stage director, and faculty member of the Steinhardt School of Music at New York University, where he teaches Script Analysis. Garfein is widely known for his libretto written for Robert Aldridge's Elmer Gantry, which won two 2012 Grammy Awards including "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" won by Garfein and Aldridge. He also collaborated with Aldridge on the oratorio Parables.
Herschel Garfein
- Born
- 1958
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- composer · librettist
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Herschel Garfein (born January 17, 1958) is an American composer, librettist, stage director, and faculty member of the Steinhardt School of Music at New York University, where he teaches Script Analysis. Garfein is widely known for his libretto written for Robert Aldridge's Elmer Gantry, which won two 2012 Grammy Awards including "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" won by Garfein and Aldridge. He also collaborated with Aldridge on the oratorio Parables.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Herschel Garfein. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
In this article
Awards and honors
In his compositions for the musical Suenos he found an inspiration in Hispanic rhythms. Garfein also composed the music and libretto for an opera based on the Tom Stoppard play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Garfein's parents are actress Carroll Baker and film director Jack Garfein, a Czechoslovak Jew, who survived the Holocaust. His sister is actress Blanche Baker.
• 54th Annual Grammy Awards, 2011: Grammy Award, "Best Contemporary Classical Composition," with Robert Aldridge, for "Elmer Gantry." Herschel Garfein, Librettist. • 60th Annual Grammy Awards, 2017: Grammy Award, "Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album" for "Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom," by Ted Nash Big Band. Herschel Garfein, Producer, with Kabir Sehgal and Douglas Brinkley.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 28 September 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,934 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Herodes FalskPerson
- Hersal ThomasPerson
- Herschel Burke GilbertPerson
- Herschel EvansPerson
- Herta GlazPerson
- Herta MayenPerson
- Herta StaalPerson
- Herta WorellPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Herschel Garfein?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.