Jeffrey Kaufman

Jeffrey Kaufman was born in 1947. He attended and received degrees from The Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School of Music. Amongst his teachers are Nicolas Flagella, Ludmilla Ulehia and David Diamond. He has received awards and grants from: The New York State Council on the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation, The Alice Ditson Fund, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Meet the Composer, ASCAP Standard Panel Awards, Gold Award from The International Film and TV Festival of New York, and is a 3 time Grammy Award nominee.

In the early 1970s he became one of the first Music Producers for National Public Radio for which he created and produced MEET THE COMPOSER with host-moderator Martin Bookspan, which was heard on over 200 radio stations weekly for 6 years. Early in his career he became Music Director for the Woodstock superstar Richie Havens and went on to produce many recordings and concerts with Mr. Havens and other pop/rock personalities.

In 1978 he created the record label Phoenix USA (a label devoted to contemporary music) with an emphasis on American Composers). He has also created several other labels which produced and distributed various styles of Classical, Jazz and Instrumental Music. He has also been involved as a Concert and Stage Producer including important concerts featuring the great French Jazz violinist, Stephane Grappelli (together with Yo Yo Ma) and concerts with Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Lena Horne.

In 1991 he became Music Adviser to the 5 year series “Absolut Concerto” which commissioned and presented at Lincoln Center’s Philharmonic Hall, new American orchestral works by composers John Adams, Michael Torke, Christopher Rouse, Aaron Jay Kernis, Ned Rorem, Morton Gould, George Rochberg, and William Bolcom amongst others. Most recently he became a member of the producing team for the hit Broadway Musical AN AMERICAN IN PARIS.