… a composer on Berkeley’s faculty, has apparently committed suicide.

His body was found under a BART train.

“The conductor reported that Liderman was the only person on the platform and jumped in front of the train when it was about five feet away from him.”

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Update:  UD’s friend Jeffrey Kallberg, who knew Liderman slightly, notes that his latest work was scheduled to be performed in San Francisco tonight.  The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

“Furthermore,” a chamber concerto that Liderman wrote for violinist Carla Kihlstedt and the San Francisco Chamber Contemporary Music Players, is scheduled for a world premiere at 8 p.m. today at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Adam Frey, the group’s executive director, said that Liderman had been expected to speak at a public run-through of the piece Sunday afternoon but did not appear. He said Liderman had attended a rehearsal as recently as Friday.

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Another Update:  “We knew that Jorge had problems that he’d been fighting for as long as we knew him,” said [a friend]. “But he never shared them and he never complained about them. He kept his composure.”

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The concert:  “But it was the Liderman piece that I think everyone was waiting for. And it was spectacular. Sort of a chamber violin concerto, it reminded me a lot of [Darius] Milhaud’s jazzy Pan-American chamber pieces. Sunny, lyrical, and full of surprises. Carla Kihlstedt nailed it with a full and sensuous tone. And it even had a cadenza! It was great and I hope they record it! The ensemble began with a moment of silence.

But of course the tragedy was that now Liderman’s work is closed, done. There won’t be any new pieces.  How can this be?”

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A Review of the high-spirited, witty music this man was able to write up to the end.

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“He had recently taken a leave of absence from the music department at UC Berkeley in order to treat his depression.”