Today, Ira Antelis is devoting his career to creating artistic works that bring people together through music, dance, history, healing, and hope. His newest production, SOLO, represents the culmination of that journey.
For more than forty years, Ira has enjoyed a remarkable career as an award-winning composer, songwriter, and producer whose music has been heard in recordings, television, film, theater, dance, and advertising. His compositions have been recorded or performed by artists including Marc Anthony, Patti LaBelle, Christina Aguilera, B.B. King, Regina Belle, and Shawn Colvin. He has composed music for many of the world’s most recognizable brands, including McDonald’s, Disney, and Gatorade, where he wrote the iconic “Be Like Mike” campaign, and served for ten years as Music Director at Leo Burnett.
Over the past several years, Ira’s creative focus has shifted toward projects that make a social and cultural impact. He created We Have Loved, an online memorial honoring lives lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, and We Sing For Ukraine, bringing together singers from across the country to raise awareness and support humanitarian relief efforts. His international recording project Keys for Peace united twenty-five pianists from around the world, each performing one of his original piano compositions as a musical statement promoting peace and understanding.
Following the passing of Elie Wiesel, Ira discovered the extraordinary body of music written inside Nazi ghettos and concentration camps. That discovery inspired We Are Here, a concert series dedicated to preserving these remarkable songs while honoring the composers who were murdered in the Holocaust. With performances at Carnegie Hall and other major venues across the United States, the project has become what Ira describes as “the most important endeavor of my life.”
Another project especially close to Ira’s heart is DEAR AMANDA. Inspired by a conversation with his lifelong friend Linda Mandracchia about her daughter Amanda Ortiz—a gifted lyricist with Down syndrome—Ira immediately envisioned an album built around Amanda’s words. Bringing together acclaimed songwriters, producers, and recording artists, the project celebrates Amanda’s remarkable talent while helping change perceptions about people with disabilities through the universal language of music.
His newest work, SOLO, brings together the two artistic languages that have inspired him throughout his career—music and movement. Rather than releasing another piano album, Ira envisioned each composition being interpreted by a different solo dancer, creating a performance in which every piece tells its own emotional story.
To realize that vision, Ira partnered with acclaimed Irish pianist, composer, and arranger Conor Linehan, whose extraordinary musical artistry helped shape the album’s distinctive sound. He also reunited with longtime collaborator and acclaimed director and choreographer Jonathan E. Alsberry, who assembled an exceptional company of dancers and choreographers—including contributing choreography himself—to transform Ira’s concept into a compelling theatrical experience.
Dedicated to the memory of Ira’s mother, Barbara Antelis, who battled Alzheimer’s disease, SOLO is both a celebration of artistic collaboration and a deeply personal reflection on memory, love, loss, and hope. More than a concert or dance performance, it is an invitation to experience how music and movement can express what words alone cannot.
