Narins
Mark Narins is a composer, conductor, operatic tenor and trombonist in San Francisco, California. He has composed works for orchestra, band, opera and solo instruments. His Trombone Concerto was recently published by Cherry Classics. His most recent orchestral work, his Symphony #2 - A Musician’s Life, was premiered in December 2019.
After first pursuing a conducting career, Mark Narins began composing in the 1990s. His early works were inspired by inscriptions found on tombstones in the Hebrew graveyard of Graz, Austria. These include Selma Weiss - Dramatic Lament for Baritone and the full length opera Theresa Kren (2008-2012) about a mother’s attempt to resurrect her daughter from the grave. Also from that opera Mr. Narins premiered Suite from Theresa Kren (2008), Entrance of the Rabbi Shlomo ben Zion (2009) and The Ball Game (2012) with soloist, chorus and orchestra.
Many of Mr. Narins’ works have a story behind them including his tone poems Evocation (2012) and Sacred Space (2014), for orchestra and viola obbligato inspired by Nancy Newman’s transcendent painting. His symphonic length 3 Moods for English Horn and Orchestra is based on such diverse sources as Arnold Böcklin’s painting The Isle of the Dead and 1940s Latin dance band music. In 2016 Mr. Narins also premiered his 50 minute Symphony #1 which does not utilize an underlying story.
Mr. Narins’ works for concert band include The Golden Find - Drake at Pt. Reyes and Total Eclipse of the Sun which commemorates the dramatic 2017 eclipse over North America. His works for piano, Romp in f minor (2010) and Improvisations and Fugue (2012) were premiered by the noted Canadian Pianist Marion Miller.
Mr. Narins studied trombone at the Mannes School of Music and with Emory Remington at Eastman School of Music. Continuing at the University of Arizona he studied piano with Patricia Benkman and Ozan Marsh and conducting with Henry Johnson. He pursued further conducting studies with Swedish maestro Sixten Ehrling and opera impresario Boris Goldovsky. Mr. Narins’ musical roots stem from his mother who studied piano at the Juilliard School of Music with Olga Samaroff and later went on to work for Walter and Arturo Toscanini at the NBC Symphony.
Maestro Narins' website is: www.MarkNarins.com