BIO
With music described as “dreamlike”(Boston Globe) and “delightfully cruel” (Operawire), NYC-based Felix Jarrar is a composer/coach/pianist with “(strong) dramatic instincts” (Lewis Spratlan, 2000 Pulitzer Prizewinner in Music) whose “music flows from him in the most natural and lively way” (Tom Cipullo). His list of accomplishments includes performances at Symphony Space, (le) poisson rouge, Feinstein's/54 below, the BAM! Fisher Hillman Studio, Roulette Intermedium, and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.
Amongst his 269 works are 232 art songs, 13 operas, 2 string quartets, and a symphony. Past commissions have been given/underwritten by New England Repertory Orchestra, University of Missouri Kansas City, Prismatic Arts Ensemble, Spark Duo, the Idaho Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He writes many of his own texts and also collaborates extensively with stage director/librettist Bea Goodwin. This season, Jarrar’s instrumental work An idyllic beach in Naples premiers with NYC’s Off the Chamber and his 8th opera The Oval Portrait receives its Pacific Northwest premiere with New Wave Opera.
An in-demand vocal collaborative pianist, répétiteur, conductor, and coach, Jarrar has worked with The New School, Opera Naples, Opera North, University of Memphis, Opera Ithaca, Penn Square Opera, Hogfish, and Santa Fe Opera. In 2022, he debuted The Jarrar and Brea Duo with soprano Maria Brea. Jarrar’s song “Sun of the Sleepless” was featured on the 2024 GRAMMY-nominated album 40@40 by Laura Strickling and Daniel Schlosberg. For the 2024/2025 season, Jarrar will serve as an assistant conductor with Florida Grand Opera for their productions of Der Zauberflöte, L’Elisir d’amore, and Carmen.
Jarrar completed his Bachelor of Arts from Marlboro College with Highest Honors in Music Composition and Piano Performance. He received his Master of Music degree from Brooklyn College with the Graduate Dean’s Award in Music Composition on the Eleanor Kilcoyne, Cerf Music, and Chancey Memorial Scholarships while holding the prestigious graduate fellowship for assisting Ursula Oppens’ contemporary ensemble in the conservatory. His primary teachers include Jason Eckardt, Stanley Charkey, Tania León, and Robert Merfeld. He was mentored by piano pedagogue Burton Hatheway.
Amongst his 269 works are 232 art songs, 13 operas, 2 string quartets, and a symphony. Past commissions have been given/underwritten by New England Repertory Orchestra, University of Missouri Kansas City, Prismatic Arts Ensemble, Spark Duo, the Idaho Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He writes many of his own texts and also collaborates extensively with stage director/librettist Bea Goodwin. This season, Jarrar’s instrumental work An idyllic beach in Naples premiers with NYC’s Off the Chamber and his 8th opera The Oval Portrait receives its Pacific Northwest premiere with New Wave Opera.
An in-demand vocal collaborative pianist, répétiteur, conductor, and coach, Jarrar has worked with The New School, Opera Naples, Opera North, University of Memphis, Opera Ithaca, Penn Square Opera, Hogfish, and Santa Fe Opera. In 2022, he debuted The Jarrar and Brea Duo with soprano Maria Brea. Jarrar’s song “Sun of the Sleepless” was featured on the 2024 GRAMMY-nominated album 40@40 by Laura Strickling and Daniel Schlosberg. For the 2024/2025 season, Jarrar will serve as an assistant conductor with Florida Grand Opera for their productions of Der Zauberflöte, L’Elisir d’amore, and Carmen.
Jarrar completed his Bachelor of Arts from Marlboro College with Highest Honors in Music Composition and Piano Performance. He received his Master of Music degree from Brooklyn College with the Graduate Dean’s Award in Music Composition on the Eleanor Kilcoyne, Cerf Music, and Chancey Memorial Scholarships while holding the prestigious graduate fellowship for assisting Ursula Oppens’ contemporary ensemble in the conservatory. His primary teachers include Jason Eckardt, Stanley Charkey, Tania León, and Robert Merfeld. He was mentored by piano pedagogue Burton Hatheway.