Daniel Abrams Collection

A native of Cleveland, OH, pianist and composer Daniel Abrams began his formal training in 1939 at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He later studied at the Juilliard School of Music, the Mannes College of Music, and a Fulbright Grant brought him to London to study piano and composition at the Royal Academy of Music. His instructors have included Nadia Boulanger, Darius Milhaud, Lennox Berkeley, Howard Ferguson and Felix Salzer in composition, and Isabelle Vengerova, Louis Persinger and Harold Craxton in piano. While in London, Abrams recorded 12 Beethoven Sonatas for Whitehall Records and subsequently embarked upon a successful tour of Europe. He returned to the United States to make his Town Hall debut in 1957. This was followed by further solo recitals in New York City at Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum, Alice Tully Hall and the 92nd Street “Y” and further tours of the United States, Canada, Europe and South America. Abrams has performed the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas in New York City, Baltimore and Woodstock, and the five Beethoven Concertos with the Baltimore Symphony. Abrams is a prolific composer who has written in a range of genres, including choral, chamber, orchestral, along with musicals, opera and works for piano. Among his piano works are pieces based on operas by Mozart, Wagner, Weber, Gounod and Offenbach. Abrams has also published instructional series that include Practice Techniques for All Musicians, Put Your Hands on the Piano and Play!, and Understanding the Language of Music.