Kahane released a self-titled album, Gabriel Kahane, on Family Records in 2008, receiving positive reviews.[3]
In September 2011, Kahane released his second singer-songwriter album, Where Are The Arms, on StorySound Records. It was recorded with many of his regular collaborators, including Rob Moose on violin and guitar, Matt Johnson on drums, and Casey Foubert, who also helped mix and produce it, on various instruments.[4] These three musicians would also collaborate with him on his next album, The Ambassador.[5]
For his 2014 album, The Ambassador, he used ten addresses in L.A. to write songs from the perspectives of characters both real and imaginary. The album was featured in Rolling Stone,[6]Vogue,[7] and Paste,[8] and Kahane also wrote a piece about exploring L.A. through music for The New Yorker.[9] The album was staged by Tony Award winner John Tiffany with set design by Tony Award winner Christine Jones at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Carolina Performing Arts in the fall of 2014 and at University of California, Los Angeles in the spring of 2015.[10] The song "Empire Liquor Mart (9127 S. Figueroa St.)" from The Ambassador was selected by NPR as one of their NPR Music's Favorite Songs of 2014.[11]
After the 2016 election, he embarked on a cross-country train trip that yielded the 2018 album Book of Travelers.[12]
Composing and performance
Kahane's best-known work, the song cycle Craigslistlieder, which was his first concert work and was re-released by indie record label Family Records in 2008,[13] sets real Craigslist ads to music. Other artists have covered this voice-and-piano piece,[14] and Audra McDonald has included Craigslistlieder in her standard repertoire.[15]
Kahane performed regularly at Rockwood Music Hall, where he had artistic residencies beginning as early as 2009.[16]
As part of his 2012–2013 residency with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra,[21] Kahane wrote Gabriel's Guide to the 48 States inspired by the American Guide Series, commissioned by the government during the Great Depression. The piece received its New York Premiere at Carnegie Hall in April 2013 with Orpheus playing and Kahane singing.[22]
His album The Ambassador was staged at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in 2014–2015 by Tony Award winner John Tiffany with set design by Tony Award winner Christine Jones.[10] In 2017, Kahane returned to BAM to present a multi-media solo concert of his album Book of Travelers, directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Fish.[32]
In September 2024, Kahane will perform two of his albums, Book of Travelers and Magnificent Bird, in rep at Playwrights Horizons in New York City.[34]
Personal life
Kahane spent much of his career in Brooklyn, New York City.[35] In March, 2020, Kahane moved to Portland, Oregon.[36] He currently performs his original songs in venues across the United States.
An accomplished scholastic chess player, Gabriel achieved the title of "Expert" at age 14.
Works
ORCHESTRA:
2016 Nocturama —large orchestra, commissioned by the Interlochen Academy for the Arts
2015 Freight & Salvage —string orchestra, commissioned by A Far Cry, The Knights, and the Orlando Philharmonic
2013 Gabriel’s Guide to the 48 States—baritone, electric guitar, banjo, and chamber orchestra, commissioned by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra[22]
2011 Orinoco Sketches—piano, baritone, guitar, and large chamber ensemble, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic[37]
CHAMBER:
2014 Bradbury Studies—string quartet, commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
2013 Without a Frame—flute, bass clarinet, trumpet, electric or acoustic guitar, viola, and cello, written for yMusic[38]
2012 Fun House—flute doubling piccolo, B♭ clarinet doubling bass clarinet, B♭ trumpet doubling piccolo trumpet and chromatic harmonica, violin doubling electric guitar, viola, and cello, written for yMusic[38]
2012 The Fiction Issue—string quartet, piano, reed organ, two guitars, and two solo voices (one male/one female), commissioned by Carnegie Hall for Brooklyn Rider, Shara Worden, and the composer[23]
2010 Little Sleep's Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight—cello, piano, and baritone, commissioned by Linda and Stuart Nelson[18]
2010 The Red Book—string quartet, commissioned by the Kronos Quartet[40]
2009 Pocket Concerto—solo trumpet, flute, clarinet, and string trio (w/ violin doubling electric guitar), commissioned by Linda and Stuart Nelson[41]
2008 For the Union Dead—flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), trumpet, banjo, piano, voice, and string trio (violin doubling electric guitar), commissioned by the Verbier Festival[14]
KEYBOARD:
2016 Works on Paper—piano, commissioned by Carnegie Hall for Timo Andres
2011 Being Alive (after Stephen Sondheim)—piano, commissioned by Anthony De Mare[42]
2011 The Baffled King (after Leonard Cohen)—piano, commissioned by the Ecstatic Music Festival[43]
2009 Django: Tiny Variations on a Big Dog—piano, commissioned by Jeffrey Kahane[40]
2008 Sonata—piano, commissioned by Linda and Stuart Nelson[44]
^"Gabriel Kahane". rockwoodmusichall.com. Rockwood Music Hall. February 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2022. A graduate of Brown University, Kahane lives in Brooklyn.
