Steven R. Gerber was born in 1948 in Washington, D.C. and now lives in New York City. He received degrees from Haverford College and from Princeton University, where he received a four-year fellowship. His composition teachers included Robert Parris, J. K. Randall, Earl Kim, and Milton Babbitt. He died in 2015. Music in Dark Times for orchestra, commissioned by Vladimir Ashkenazy, received its world première performance in March 2009, with Ashkenazy conducting the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. Music in Dark Times following the events of 9/11 in 2001.