2022 marks the launch of the RSO’s Composer in Residence program, created by Maestro Kim to engage with an established composer residing in the greater Ridgewood community. In addition to providing the composers an opportunity to have their works performed by a local orchestra, the members of the RSO will engage with the composer in rehearsals and in concert, understanding directly the composer’s intentions and craft. RSO audiences will also benefit by hearing directly from the composers, who will provide commentary about their compositions.

Our inaugural composer-in-residence is Amanda Harberg.

New Jersey composer Amanda Harberg is a composer whose work has been described by the New York Times as “a sultry excursion into lyricism.” Her writing “conveys a thoroughly original sense of happiness in music,” according to Cleveland Classical. “She invigorates the brain and touches the soul,” says composer John Corigliano. “I love her work.”


Harberg’s music has been presented at leading institutions including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Verizon Hall, Symphony Center, Bargemusic, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Her music has been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra with Erica Peel and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Albany Symphony’s Dogs of Desire, the Interlochen Philharmonic, the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, and many other ensembles. Her Clarinet Concerto will be premiered at the 2022 International Clarinet Convention Gala Concert by the Reno Philharmonic with soloist YaoGuang Zhai and Jason Altieri, and her Piccolo Concerto was presented at the 2021 National Flute Convention’s Gala Concerto Concert (online). Her music is frequently assigned by international, national and regional competitions as required repertoire, and her Concerto for Viola and Orchestra was recorded on Naxos American Classics in 2017 to critical acclaim. Harberg’s music is published by Theodore Presser Company and has been recognized by a Fulbright Hays fellowship, the Juilliard School’s Peter Mennin prize, two New Jersey Council on the Arts Fellowships, a New York State Council on the Arts fellowship, a MacDowell Colony summer residency, and five NFA Newly Published Music awards. The International Clarinet Association featured her in 2022 as Composer-of-the-Month. Harberg has been commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, the New World Symphony, the Albany Symphony, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Juilliard School, the Bay Atlantic Symphony, the New York Youth Symphony’s First Music Program, the Harmonium Choral Society, and by instrumental soloists worldwide.


Dr. Harberg is on the composition faculty at Rutgers University and at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and she will be the inaugural Composer-in-Residence with the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra from Fall 2022 through Spring 2024. She is Artistic Advisor at Keys 2 Success–an educational organization that brings quality music education to grade-school students in the most underserved areas of Newark NJ.


To find out more, please visit: https://amandaharberg.com/