Prelude & Presto from Lute Suite No. 1 in E Minor: J.S. Bach

Prelude & Presto: J.S. Bach

Len Handler studied clasical guitar with Leonid Bolotine, William Matthews and Peter Lawrence, and composition with Frederic Werle’.  As a performer, Len was stage guitarist for the original Broadway production of the musical Man of LaMancha, and has performed as guitar soloist with the New York City Ballet, New York Shakespeare Festival, and NBC’s Mike Douglass Show and Midday Live.  Len toured nationally with the duo Herrick & Handler, and has been guitar accompanist for Lannie Kazan, Howard Keel, and Jerome Hines, as well as guitar soloist in productions with Charles Durning, Barbara Barrie, Ralph Waite and Jose Ferrer.  

As a composer/writer, Len’s compositions have been published by Polygram Music, Universal, Boosey & Hawkes, Theodore Presser, G. Schirmer and Famous Music.  Country music reviewer Kris Wilson reviewed Don Williams’ recent recording of Len’s “Harry & Joe” as “…one of the twelve best songs recorded in Nashville this year.”  A recent Emmy nomination for Best Original Song (“Fool’s Gold”) along with featured songs on network television dramas Guiding Light, Another World, and As The World Turns, have kept Len busy writing. Len’s song “The Last Day of Forever” was recently featured in the film The Crab Orchard, starring Ed Asner and Judge Reinhold.

On the classical front, Len’s Concerto For Guitar and Orchestra was premiered by Claude Monteaux and the Haydn Festival Orchestra, and his song cycle for choir and string quintet, “Forgotten Faces,” was premiered in the fall of 2007.

Multi-faceted, these days Len serves as Director of Music for Reader’s Digest Association. He lives in Connecticut with his wife Debbie, children Rachael, Alex and Aaron, and Beagle Tucker.


Prelude & Presto: J.S. Bach

LIH