Tekeeyah Concerto for Shofar/Trombone and Orchestra World Premiere

World Premiere Performances of Meira Warshauer’s Concerto for Shofar/Trombone and Orchestra on November 15 in Brevard, NC and November 17 in Columbia, SC

Composer Meira Warshauer’s Tekeeyah (a call) - Concerto for Shofar/Trombone and Orchestra, will be given Premiere performances with the Brevard Philharmonic on November 15 –
3 PM at
Porter Center for the Performing Arts of Brevard College,
1 Brevard College Dr. in Brevard, North Carolina

and
with the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra
on November 17 –
7:30 PM at
the Koger Center for the Arts
1051 Greene St. in
Columbia, South Carolina.

Shofar/trombone virtuoso Haim Avitsur will be soloist at both performances. The November 15 Brevard Philharmonic will be led by their Conductor and Artistic Director Donald Portnoy in a program that also includes works by Brahms and Borodin. More about the concert and the Philharmonic at http://www.boamusic.org/bp.htm.

The November 17 University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra will again be led by their Conductor and Artistic Director Donald Portnoy in a program that also includes works by Berlioz, Schubert and Tchaikovsky. More about this concert and the USC Symphony at http://www.music.sc.edu/ea/orchestra/index.html.

Tekeeyah (a call) is the first concerto written for shofar/trombone soloist and orchestra and was commissioned by a consortium of orchestras that includes the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Steven Errante, Conductor, Brevard Philharmonic, University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra, Donald Portnoy, Conductor and Artistic Director, Western Piedmont Symphony (Hickory, NC), John Gordon Ross, Music Director and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Neal Gittleman, Music Director along with Lilly Stern and Bruce Filler, and Linda and Bill Stern in loving memory of their parents, Jadzia and Ben Stern.

The composer, who began work on Tekeeyah (a call) during a residency at the MacDowell Colony in spring of 2008, has written this about the piece, “I believe this is a time which calls for awakening to our true essence as human beings. Our planet needs us, and we need each other, to care for and heal our suffering world. The shofar (ram’s horn), with its natural power and centuries of service in calling Jews to awaken, can be an important instrument in this collective renewal of purpose.” Read her complete program notes at http://www.meirawarshauer.com/NEW/pages/Program_notes/tekeeyah_notes.html. Read an online article about the new work at http://www.readthebeatmagazine.com/Oct09-Warshauer-Classical.htm.

Israeli trombonist Haim Avitsur has premiered over 60 new pieces encompassing a broad range of styles from solo trombone to chamber music and orchestra. Mr. Avitsur is Trombone Professor at West Chester University School of Music (PA) and at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, NY. From 2004-2007 Haim Avitsur was on the faculty of the University of Virginia as well as the Principal Trombonist of the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra. In 2005 he founded the Summer Trombone Workshop, which has a U.S. residency at Temple University. Much more about him at http://www.haimavitsur.com/.

Meira Warshauer’s music, performed internationally to critical acclaim, reflects her personal spiritual journey and communicates directly to the heart and soul of the listener. She has received many important awards and is the Nancy A. Smith Distinguished Visitor in Residence at Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC.

Ms. Warshauer has devoted much of her creative output to Jewish themes and their universal message. Bracha for violin and piano was recorded for the Feminissimo CD on Albany Records, which has also released her acclaimed Streams in the Desert disk of Torah-based choral/orchestral works. Her work also reflects a love and concern for the earth. A profile of her Symphony No.1: Living, Breathing Earth was featured on the nationally broadcast PRI radio show Living on Earth in Spring, 2007, during the symphony’s premiere season with commissioning orchestras Dayton Philharmonic, South Carolina Philharmonic, and Western Piedmont Symphony.

Warshauer's music is published by Oxford University Press, Hildegard, Lauren Keiser Music, World Music Press and Kol Meira Publications. Her website is at http://www.meirawarshauer.com and press photos are available at http://www.meirawarshauer.com/NEW/pages/presskit.html. Her Like Streams in the Desert video is on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18OqrQV8z1U&feature=related.

Cyro Baptista & Beat The Donkey, Edom, and More

Cyro Baptista & Beat The Donkey
Record Release Party for Infinito – Out now on Tzadik Records
EDOM, the group led by one of the new guitar heroes of modern avant-jazz EYAL MAOZ will also be celebrating the release of their new album Hope and Destruction - out now on Tzadik Records.

Saturday, November 14, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 10:00pm
at
Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street, NYC
New York, NY
Cyro Baptista & Beat The Donkey
Record Release Party for Infinito – Out now on Tzadik Records

BEAT THE DONKEY, brain child of Brazilian born New Yorker CYRO BAPTISTA, will be the main act of the night, augmented by many surprise special guests

Hailed by The New York Times as “wild, vivid entertainment...BEAT THE DONKEY is a Brazilian carnival crossed with Lower East Side performance art”

Cyro Baptista's Beat the Donkey is more than just a band. It is a wild, unstoppable and torrid world beat percussive ensemble that blends and beats a bewitching stage stew of untamed percussion, tap dance, martial arts, samba, jazz, rock, funk, and sometimes even the kitchen sink. An exuberant mix of instrumentation from all around the globe and Cyro's own inventive percussion creations. The musicians hail from many corners of the world and dress in wild, elaborate costumes which creates an atmosphere that is ripe for audience participation – your eyes will be glued to the stage, your asses shaking and your ears smiling! Young or old, your jaw will drop! Saturday November 14th

EDOM, the group led by one of the new guitar heroes of modern avant-jazz EYAL MAOZ will also be celebrating the release of their new album Hope and Destruction - out now on Tzadik Records.

And to round out the night you will be visited by WOLLESONIC, drummer and crazy sound scientist Kenny Wollesen's 20 + piece street style brass marching band performing on a plethora of one-of-a-kind hand made instruments made by Wollesonic Laboratories.

Doors 7PM Show 7:30PM, $15 Tickets lepoissonrouge.com/
158 Bleecker St, New York (212) 505-FISH (3474)
beatthedonkey.net or cyrobaptista.com

'YALLA!' featuring Kavona and Poetic Pilgrimage at Artifice

An evening of visual art, music, video, spoken word, graffiti and dialogue about culture, faith and identity. Artists from different traditions using different forms of expression taking over and transforming a space.
The event is FREE and open to all.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 10:30pm
Location: BASH
65 - 71 Scrutton Street
London, United Kingdom

In Memory Of... Strom Finds 'Lost Romanian Jewish Music'

Dec. 16th at 7pm the world premiere of Yale Strom's new quartet:
"IN THE MEMORY OF..." as part of a concert of
"Lost Romanian Jewish Music"
Start Time: Wednesday, December 16 at 7:00pm
Where: Eldridge Street Synagogue
12 Eldridge Street (off Canal), NYC
Tel: (212)219-0302
Seniors $12.00; Public $15.00

In the summer of 2008, musician Yale Strom traveled to Romania and discovered a musical treasure trove. In the upstairs women's balcony of the 1871 synagogue of Carei he found a box of old books including the cantor's music book with over 250 melodies notated by hand. This Romanian Jewish musical treasure had been lost. In Memory of is a performance based upon the cantorial music he uncovered, and is dedicated to the Jews who perished during the Holocaust. Virtuoso cellist Mike Block and his string quartet will perform the new compositon.

After the quartet Cantor Ari Priven (Cong. Bnai Jeshurun) will sing some of the melodies from the "lost" cantor's book and then Yale Strom and Mike Block will perform melodies from the same work as klezmer pieces.

MIKE BLOCK
Hailed by Yo-Yo Ma as the “ideal musician of the 21st Century”, Mike Block is a pioneering multi-genre cello player living in New York City. While studying at the Juilliard School, Mike joined The Silk Road Ensemble as its youngest member, and upon graduation in 2006, also joined Grammy Award winner Mark O'Connor in his Appalachia Waltz Trio. Since then, Mike has become an in-demand player in many musical genres, and has joined Darol Anger's Republic of Strings, The Knights, The Absolute Ensemble, Sirius String Quartet, yMusic, Bassam Saba's New York Arabic Orchestra, and a duo with Chinese Pipa virtuoso, Yang Wei. As a composer, Mike writes extensively for the Mike Block Band, and has also had his pieces performed at the Tribeca New Music Festival, and the MATA Festival

Shem's Disciples with Candido Camero Team Up with David Amram and bobby Sanabria

New York Reggae/Hip-Hop Fusion Band Shem's Disciples is joined by Latin jazz Legend Candido Camero, renowned jazz instrumentalist and composer David Amram, and multi-Grammy nominated percussionist Bobby Sanabria, to perform a special concert for the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF) Music Therapy program. The IMNF is a member of the Beth Abraham Family of Health Services.

The concert will take place on Wednesday, December 2
from 7-9p.m. at the
Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, SUNY
735 Anderson Hill Rd.
Purchase, NY 10577

Tickets cost $50 and can be purchase by calling 718-519-5840 or e-mailing imnf@bethabe.org

Gila Carcas Chamber Works

Israel Composers League member, Jerusalem-based Gila (Gillian) Carcas, has a new website biography and a listing of compositions. There is an mp3 for her work "Beside the Lake" for Violin, Cello and Piano. Her works are available for puchase through the website. Gila has written over 50 pieces for small chamber ensembles, solo works, a chamber opera and some orchestra compositions.
http://www.israelcomposers.org/Members.aspx?lang=English&letter=Chttp://www.israelcomposers.org/Members.aspx?lang=English&letter=C

Unsung Songs and Song Cycles

Works by Joel Mandelbaum will be performed
at 2 PM on Sunday, November 15th
at the Assembly Hall of the Community Church of New York, which shares
its facilities with the Metropolitan Synagogue, 40 East 35th Street, NYC

The performance will be repeated the following day
Monday, November 16 at 12:15
at Lefrak Concert Hall at Queens College.

With a range of settings written from 1958 to 2009, the concert is truly a major retrospective and will feature, among others, Emily Duncan-Brown and Roz Woll

Over a more than 50-year period of devotion to the art song in fourteen cycles, Mandelbaum has set poems by Millay, Leonie Adams, Karen Ethelsdattar, Bettina Blake, and Benjamin J.R. Stolper, among others.