November 08, 2005

'ORIENTALE' in Amsterdam

'ORIENTALE' is a unique recital that includes the Jewish violin music of Achron, Bloch, Bruch, Engel, Dobrowen, Feldman, Gnesin, A. Krein, Samson, Scher, Zeitlin, and Zimbalist. Performed by violinist Grigory Sedukh (from St.-Petersburg) and pianist Sara Crombach (from Amsterdam) on Saturday 10 December 2005, 8:15 PM at the de Liberal Synagogue Amsterdam, Jacob Soetendorpstraat 8 te Amsterdam. Entrance fee 10 Euro.

With their recital entitled Orientale, violinist Grigory Sedukh and pianist Sara Cormbach are paying homage to a group of Russian-Jewish composers whose music was banned in the Soviet Union. Some of them belonged to the Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music, which was founded in 1908. The Society was a meeting place for Jewish composers interested in creating a new kind of classical Jewish music. They collected folk music, gave concerts and published informative material on Jewish folk music. The forerunners included music critic, composer and publisher Joel Engel (1862-1927) and composers Ephraim Skliar (1871-?) and Solomon Rosovsky (1878-1962). The leading composers included Joseph Achron (1886-1943), Mikhail Gnesin (1883-1957) and Alexander Krein (1883-1951). The Petersburg Society created a considerable oeuvre consisting of original works as well as new arrangements of the traditional repertoire. The Society was officially was active for 10 years and had to stop in 1918 after the Communist take-over. Jewish culture was taboo in the Soviet Union after 1930 and the music of the Society was no longer performed. The memory of it was virtually erased, but today some dedicated musicians are trying to revive it. Grigory Sedukh is one of them. The programme also features well-known Jewish works by Bruch and Bloch.

As an added attraction, a piece by René Samson, a Jewish composer from Surinam, is included, Eine kleine Gamelan-Musik. Although originally written for flute and piano, it will be performed in a special version for piccolo violin and piano. Samson, born in 1948 in Paramaribo, is a chemist who started composing at the age of 40. Since 1998 a small enthusiast group of musicians has regularly performed Samson's music.

Grigory Sedukh, born in 1952 in Kharkov in the Ukraine, is the only piccolo violinist in the world. He was introduced ten years ago to this instrument constructed by the renowned American violin-maker Carleen Hutchins. It is tuned an octave higher than the regular violin and Sedukh is particularly fond of playing Jewish music on the piccolo violin. He also made many transcriptions for it of classical masterpieces. Grigory Sedukh is a member of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and teaches at the chamber music department of the Petersburg State Conservatory. He gives solo recitals all over the world.

In September 2000 he was in the opera Alice in Wonderland, performed by the Nederlandse Opera at the Music Theatre in Amsterdam. Composer Alexander Kneiffel wrote a special role for Grigory's piccolo violin. During the production he met the pianist Sara Crombach. In 2002/2003 Grigory participated in the Mikhail Gnesin Project, organised by the Jewish Music Projects Foundation and performed in Amsterdam, Geneva, London, St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities. Sara Crombach studied with Naum Grubert at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. She followed master classes in Hungary with the Kodály Quartet and at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Boris Berman and Sergei Dorenski. She also studied with Maria João Pires. She performs often as a soloist and in duos with pianist Bernd Brackman and cellist Wladislaw Warenberg, with whom she recorded a CD of Russian romantic masterpieces. She also recorded with the Armenian Chamber Orchestra Yerevan.

More information:

. Liberal Jewish Community Amsterdam, phone: 020-5400123; e-mail: ljgadam@ljg.nl Jacob Soetendorpstraat 8, 1079 RM Amsterdam . Jewish Music Projects Foundation, phone: 020-662 3675; e-mail: jmp@tiscalimail.nl P.O. Box 55524, 1007 NA Amsterdam . See http://www.lgj.nl; http://www.joodsemuziekprojecten.nl Posted by jmwc at November 8, 2005 04:24 PM