NEA National Heritage Fellow Elaine Watts

Read All about Elaine's award:
http://www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=2007_12
Here's the interview with Elaine Watts after her being named the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow:
http://www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/interview.php?id=2007_12

Elaine Hoffman Watts 2007 winner of a National Heritage Fellowship

Elaine Hoffman Watts wins National Endowment for the Arts, National Heritage Fellowship
The Jewish Music WebCenter already knew how great Elaine is, having conducted an extensive interview with her at KlezKanada a few years ago, not to mention hearing all those concerts with her. Now she's getting a national honor... nice!
http://www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/NHFIntro.php?year=2007

The NEA writes about Elaine:

"Elaine Hoffman Watts' family came to the United States from a town near Odessa in the former Soviet Union. Her father, Jacob Hoffman, was a prominent member of a klezmer band that was recorded in the 1920s. Elaine received training from her father and uncles in the family's repertoire of polkas, freilachs, mazurkas, shers, and other tunes of Eastern European Jewish musical tradition. She became the first woman graduate in percussion from the Curtis Institute of Music. With many opportunities before her, Watts chose to maintain the three-generation family tradition of playing klezmer music at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other social events. She points out that being a woman and a drummer often was a barrier in her career but as one klezmer scholar observes, "Elaine is an important role-model to young players who otherwise would have no clue that women were indeed a part of traditional Yiddish music. Because those of us who study traditional Yiddish culture have no homeland in Europe to which we can return, we rely heavily on the 78-rpm recordings that were made during the early years of the 20th century. The vast majority of musicians on those recordings were men, and Elaine's presence is critical in redressing this imbalance."

Theodore Bikel to Receive Award

Theodore Bikel will receive the Hallel V'Zimrah Award at a program at Central Synagogue in New York. The HaZamir Choir, The International Jewish High School Choir will also perform.
HaZamir Gala 14th Annual Concert
Sunday, April 22, 2007
7:15 PM

Central Synagogue
Manhattan
652 Lexington Ave. (at 55th St.)
Tickets: $25 thru April 12th only from the Zamir Choral Foundation
(212)870-3335
or
$30 at the door

Givatron Choir to Receive Israel Prize

Founded in 1948, a kibbutz choir called Givatron has been named to receive the Israel Prize, announced Education Minister Yuli Tamir on Sunday. The Israel Prize will be awarded on Israel's Independence Day. Founded in Kibbutz Geva, the choir's generations of singers and musicians have produced 26 albums. For many Israelis, their music became 'emblematic of modern Zionism.' The Israel Prize Committee judges announced that this year's lifetime achievement award would go to the Givatron because "In a world dominated by fads ...the band and their repertoire have been for a long time a unique and significant phenomenon to their young listeners, as well as previous generations. A thousand singing groups and bands followed in its tracks and have enriched Israeli culture - its heritage."

West Bank Story wins Oscar for Best Live Action Short

Here's a letter just received from the musical group Yuval Ron about the Oscar awarded last night:

Dear All,
I am thrilled to share with you the news that tonight we won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short FIlm for the film West Bank Story, directed by Ari Sandel. This is a great victory for us as the film is a musical and the music (the songs and the score which I composed) has a central and very important role in the film (as in any musical). I am so glad for this award because this film was created to revive hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The film was successful in bringing out the humanity in both sides, and highlighted the courageous few who overcome the bias, follow true love and struggle for peace. May this victory and recognition, give those of us who work to increase the light, more power and more opportunities, to make a difference and slowly create a critical mass that would bring end to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Thank you for all the people who worked in my team (too many to name) to create the music for West Bank Story, especially for the good people who have worked with me on numerous projects in film and TV: singers Amick Byram, Ahmed El Asmer, Steven Memel and the percussionist Jamie Papish for their contribution to the score. Also thank you to the director Ari Sandel for coming up with the crazy idea to spoof West Side Story in present day Palestine!.... to my wife Carolyne for her support.....and to Silan for the good fortune.

Peace,
Yuval Ron

www.yuvalronmusic.com www.myspace.com/yuvalronensemble

Wondering about the Wonder Wheel Grammy

If you want to know more about the album Wonder Wheel (JMG Records, JMG 18033-02, 2006) performed by that incredible Jewish band, the Klezmatics, -- that just won a Grammy in World Music-- there's a great article on the Klezmershack that explains a lot about the project. http://klezmershack.com/articles/cherlin/klezmatics/

Another article about the album appeared in The Forward which you can read about online http://www.forward.com/articles/where-the-borscht-sounds-like-the-sea/

Happy Birthday Ari Davidow!

A Special Happy Birthday to Ari Davidow! Ari is author of the KlezmerShack.com For over 10 years Ari has been providing music reviews, listings and articles on every area of Jewish music, especially klezmer music. His website gets top ratings from JMWC. Thanks, Ari !!

Yehudi Wyner wins the Pulitzer Prize

Yehudi Wyner, composer and faculty member at Brandeis for many years until his recent retirement, won the Pulitzer Prize in music yesterday for his piano concerto ''Chiavi in mano." The concerto was premiered in Boston at the Boston Symphony Orchestra concert last year. Wyner is the first Boston-based composer to win for a BSO work since Walter Piston in 1948.

Wyner is the son of Lazar Weiner, and is a well known composer in the Boston area and internationally. Yehudi was born in 1929 in Calgary, Alberta, but grew up in NYC. He studied at Julliard, Yale (with Richard Donovan and Paul Hindemith), and Harvard (with Walter Piston). In 1953, he won the Rome Prize in Composition. He taught at Yale from 1963-77, and served as head of the composition faculty there. At SUNY Purchase (1978-89) he was also Dean of the Music Division. In 1986, he was visiting professor at Cornell. He joined Brandeis in 1989, where was the Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Composition, since 1991. He has been a frequent visitng professor at Harvard. In addition, he has been on the chamber music faculty at Tanglewood Music Center from 1975-1997. In 1998, Wyner received the Elise Stoeger Award from the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society for his lifetime contribution to chamber music, and in 1999, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Since 1968 Wyner has been a keyboard artist for Bach Aria Group.

We, at Brandeis, are very excited about this! A well-deserved prize, Yehudi is a wonderful composer. A few years ago, in April 2002, Yehudi gave a concert with soprano Re'ut Ben Ze'ev of his father's Yiddish art songs here at the library for the Music Library Association program. Yehudi was at the keyboard, and it remains one of the most memorable concerts of my 14 years here at Brandeis.

Judy

Yehudi's works include compositions for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo voice and instruments, music for the theater, and liturgical services for worship. Many works were created for his wife, Susan Davenny Wyner, including Intermedio, a lyric ballet for soprano and string orchestra; Fragments from Antiquity for soprano and orchestra; and On This Most Voluptuous Night for soprano and chamber ensemble. Some recent works include Prologue and Narrative for Cello and Orchestra (1994), commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic; Lyric Harmony for orchestra (1995), commissioned by Carnegie Hall; Epilogue for Orchestra (1996), commissioned by Yale School of Music. Recent works also include String Quartet; Toward the Center; Sweet Consort, Trapunto Junction;Horntrio (a finalist for Pulitzer in 1998); Madrigal (1999) and Oboe Quartet (1999). He's won 2 Guggenheim Fellowships, The Brandeis Creative Arts Award, and many more. Several of his compositions were recently released on the Milken Jewish Music Archive Collection on the Naxos Label, which won a Grammy Award, including The Mirror, ; Passover Offering ; Tants un Maysele. "The music of Yehudi Wyner" was released on BRIDGE 9134 and Cello Concerto, Prologue and Narrative on TROY516 Albany Records. He's released works on CRI ( CD 701 CRI), New World Records (8059-2), Columbia and Pro Arte, and Naxos labels as well.

The Boston Globe wrote: "Born in Canada, Wyner grew up in New York and trained at the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Harvard University. Music has been the center of his entire life. His father, Lazar Weiner, was the preeminent composer of Yiddish art songs. Yehudi Wyner taught for most of his career and recently retired from his professorship at Brandeis University. He and his wife, soprano and conductor Susan Davenny Wyner, moved to Boston 20 years ago. Wyner was never an academic composer and never merely an academic. He has earned considerable acclaim as a pianist and conductor; for nearly 40 years he has been the keyboardist for the Bach Aria Group, a prominent touring and teaching ensemble that specializes in music from Bach's cantatas. And he has produced a large catalog of music in many genres; his ''horntrio" was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1998."

Rosenberg names "Song of the Lodz Ghetto" CD a "must have" in Newsday

Marion Lignana Rosenberg, a writer for Newsday, has named the CD by Brave Old World, "Song of the Lodz Ghetto" as "the must-have CD of 2005" She states: "This haunting work interweaves songs of hope and defiance from Lodz, where some 250,000 Jews awaited slaughter during World War II, with musical glosses by klezmer and new Jewish music band Brave Old World. Plaintive yet also a kick in the teeth of death, it is the must-have CD of 2005." Rosenberg also has a blog where she links to some really great articles about the CD, not the least of which is a phenomenal review by Ruth Gruber in the International Herald Tribune last Nov 8, at http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/07/opinion/trmusic.php# It's gratifying to see the mainstream press starting to catch on to this great musical collection. For months the KlezmerShack http://www.klezmershack.com has extolled the virtues of BOW. Our own announcement from July 23rd here at JMWC, is also worth reviewing with material from Alan Bern.

Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman awarded National Heritage Fellowships

Recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships were announced, and one went to Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman of the Bronx, New York. Beyle is a Yiddish singer, poet and songwriter. The award includes $20,000. "These fellowships recognize lifetime achievement, artistic excellence and contributions to our nation's traditional arts heritage." Recipients are deemed to be "worthy of national recognition and have a record of continuing artistic accomplishment. They must be actively participating in their art form, either as practitioners or as teachers. Fellows are selected according to criteria of authenticity, excellence, and significance within the particular artistic tradition." Schaechter-Gottesman is just the fifth Jewish artist to receive this high honor - Dave Tarras, 1984; the Fatima Kuinova, 1992; Epstein Brothers, 1998; Flory Jagoda in 2002. This is first time a Yiddish singer/sonwriter/poet has received it. Other 2005 recipients are: Eldrid Skjold Arntzen of Watertown, Conn., a Norwegian-American rosemaler, or flower-motif painter; Earl Barthé of New Orleans, a decorative building craftsman; Chuck Brown of Brandywine, Md., an African-American musical innovator; Michael Doucet of Lafayette, La., a Cajun fiddler, composer and bandleader; Jerry Grcevich of North Huntingdon, Pa., a Tamburitza musician and prim player; Grace Henderson Nez of Ganado, Ariz., a Navajo weaver; Wanda Jackson of Oklahoma City, an early country, rockabilly and gospel singer; Hermina Albarrán Romero of San Francisco, a paper-cutting artist; Albertina Walker of Chicago, a gospel singer; and James Ka'upenaWong of Waianae, Hawaii, a Hawaiian chanter. http://www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/Heritage05/NHFIntro.html

David Frost Wins GRAMMY for Five Jewish Music CDs

Veteran producer David Frost has won a GRAMMY for Classical Producer of the Year. Frost won the GRAMMY for five CDs he produced for the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music, all of which were released in 2004.
"It's certainly a great honor," said Frost at the 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards in Los Angeles on February 13. "I accept this along with the Milken Archive, and especially Lowell Milken for creating the Milken Archive, as well as Neil Levin and Paul Schwendener-and Naxos for distributing this wonderful and unique recording project."
The five Milken Archive recordings for which Frost won his GRAMMY are:
* Bruce Adolphe [8.559413]
* Dave Brubeck [8.559414]
* Genesis Suite [8.559442]
* Jewish Operas, Vol. 1 [8.559424]
* Yehudi Wyner [8.559423]

The Wyner CD was also nominated in the category of Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without Conductor).
For more information, go to
http://www.milkenarchive.org/articles/articles.taf?function=detail&ID=86

Meira Warshauer wins Miriam Gideon Prize from IAWM

Meira Warshauer's nice online newsletter announced that she won the Miriam Gideon Prize. "Yishakeyni" has been honored with 1st Place in the 2004 Miriam Gideon Prize from the International Association for Women in Music. The piece is a setting of the first four verses of "Song of Songs," the great love song of the Bible. It invites the listener into a realm of human and Divine love which transcends boundaries. Meira's newsletter is available at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/feb05/MW_nws_020504.htm

Alexandria Kleztet win Wammie Awards

At the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia, the Alexandria Kleztet won two Wammie Awards...

The Wammies are for the Washington Area Music Association. The group won the Wammie for “Best World Music Duo or Group,” and Seth Kibel also received an individual award for "Best World Music Instrumentalist" for Greater Washington. The Wammie awards are kind of like a regional version of the Grammy awards. They’re voted upon by the musicians and music industry professionals of the Greater Washington and Baltimore regions. To find out more, see the websites at www.kleztet.com and www.sethkibel.com