Singer, pianist, and composer Gabriel Kahane is at the forefront of a generation of artists who are reinventing the landscape of music in the 21st century. Armed with a “sonorous, mesmerizing baritone” (The New Yorker) and a profound gift for composition, Kahane has found niches in the indie, classical and theater worlds while effortlessly blurring the lines between them.

A testament to his catholic musical pursuits, Kahane’s self-titled debut album was released in September 2008. With twenty musicians involved, the recording offers snippets of string quartets juxtaposed with strummy folk songs, and brass chorales right beside jangly piano pop; yet it’s very much of a piece, an album meant to be heard as a whole. His popular song cycle Craigslistlieder—art-song setting of eight anonymous posts Kahane found on the personals/classifieds website craigslist.org—has won over fans and critics with its unlikely affiliation of raucous pop culture with deft high-art craft.

Much in demand as a composer, Kahane recently completed a large-scale solo work for pianist Natasha Paremski, as well as a short piece for his father called Django: Tiny Variations on a Big Dog. Django had its New York City premiere at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and was hailed by the New York Times as “most striking, if only for the virtuosity and varied stylistic sensibility it demanded.” Upcoming writing projects include The Red Book, a string quartet for the Kronos Quartets inspired by Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red; a hybrid cello sonata/song cycle for cellist Alisa Weilerstein and himself for the 2010-11 season; as well as an evening-length work for piano, voice, and orchestra exploring his family’s genealogy and journey from Germany to the United States.

Recently named The Public Theater’s inaugural Musical Theater Fellow, Kahane is currently writing a new musical, February House, as the centerpiece of the fellowship. In addition, Kahane was recently commissioned by the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, to write an evening-length work for its American Musical Voices Project.

Among his varied credits as a performer, Kahane has appeared in recital with Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff throughout Europe, toured the Schumann Piano Quintet with the Mark Morris Dance Group, and accompanied violinist Hilary Hahn in the slow movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto in a dirty bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Additionally, he has performed and/or recorded with Sufjan Stevens, Rufus Wainwright, Bill Frisell, Elvis Costello, Chris Thile and Loudon Wainwright III, among others.

Kahane makes his home in Brooklyn, New York, in close company with a piano and many books.