At age 25, Dorman became the youngest composer to win Israel's Prime-Minister's award. He has since been awarded the
ACUM prize for his Ellef Symphony. and the performance of his song cycle "Boaz" received the Israeli Cultural Ministry Prize for best performance of Israeli music the same year. Dorman's "Variations Without a Theme", premiered by
Zubin Mehta and the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2003 and won the 2004 Best Composition of the Year award from ACUM. This piece led to a commission from Zubin Mehta, PercaDu, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for "Spices, Perfumes, Toxins!", a concerto for percussion duo and orchestra. Orchestras that have performed Dorman's music include the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Los Angeles Philharmonic, In 2010, Naxos Records released an album dedicated to Dorman's chamber orchestra concerti.
Avi Avital's performance of Dorman's "Mandolin Concerto" on this recording was nominated for a
2010 Grammy Award in the category of
Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra. Dorman's debut opera,
Wahnfried, was named as a finalist for the 2018
International Opera Awards, in the category of "World Premiere". The work received its UK premiere at Longborough Festival Opera in 2025.
Gramophone described it as “undoubtedly a provocative work, boldly confronting the darkest elements of Wagnerian mythology,” and “a stark reminder that past horrors continue to echo in the present.”
The Times wrote that the opera “tackles big themes—art, nationalism, fascism, antisemitism, homophobia, politics and power—with a strong feel for balancing acerbic satire, absurdist theatre and harrowing history,” and called it “a timely mirror to the malevolent and racist ideologies that still exist today.”
The Guardian noted the “irony in the opera’s title” and described the music as “multifaceted in its references—Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Wagner himself—incisive, with often brittle instrumentation, and dynamically paced by conductor Justin Brown.” He was awarded the 2018 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music for his violin concerto,
Nigunim, originally written as a violin sonata for violinist
Gil Shaham and pianist
Orli Shaham. In 2022,
Nigunim had its NYC premiere when performed at the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, in the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, in the summer series. The concert was supported by the Azrieli Foundation. Dorman is a professor of music theory and composition at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at
Gettysburg College. He served as music director of
CityMusic Cleveland chamber orchestra from 2013 to 2019. == Compositions ==