Compositions & Works

Call for Participation, Classical or Jewish art music, Competitions/Special Events, Compositions & Works, Front Page

Composer Commission Opportunity

Kaplan Commissioning Project
Saint Mary’s University Concert Band

The ninth Helen and Sam Kaplan Foundation Commission for a new Concert Band composition written by a composer of Jewish heritage is outlined below. Any questions prior to application submission should be directed to Dr. Janet Heukeshoven, Director of Bands, at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. jheukesh@smumn.edu

Amount of Commission:

• $7,000.00 plus travel/expense allowance for a campus residency at the premier of the composition.

Description of the Composition:

• The work will be scored for standard full Concert Band instrumentation, appropriate difficulty level for advanced high school bands and small college ensembles.

• Length of composition: approximately 5-8 minutes in length.

• The composition must be based on Jewish melodic or thematic material, either folk or religious sources.…
CONTINUE READING >

Call for Participation, Classical or Jewish art music, Compositions & Works

Shalshelet 6th International Festival of New Jewish Liturgical Music

We want to be sure you know about the March 15 2015 deadline for submissions of music to Shalshelet’s 6th International Festival of New Jewish Liturgical Music which wlll take place in Philadelphia on December 13-15, 2015. Shalshelet Festival is interested in music of any style, composed by people of any age and background, that is a new setting of traditional/liturgical Jewish text.
There is more information at www.Shalshelet.org/submission
.
​For questions about the ​submissions process or the Festival, contact:
Shalshelet@newjewishmusic.com.
Please share this with anyone who might be interested.

Sarah Hyams
Executive Director
Shalshelet: The Foundation for New Jewish Liturgical Music
www.Shalshelet.org
240.715.4249

Biographies, Classical or Jewish art music, Compositions & Works

Max Stern: Profile of a Composer

MAX STERN, a composer living in Israel, has many materials that can be found through online sites. For those interested in finding some interesting music, you can follow the links below:

First, A composer’s biography about Max is available through the Israel Music Institute:

http://www.imi.org.il/Composer.aspx?id=b59f294d-4621-4944-b553-37d653e84834&Lang=E

Works List at IMI
Max Stern Works

Works Availablefor performance through IMI.

CD recordings at CD Baby (16 CDs):
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/MaxStern

Books (published by KTAV and available through Amazon.com:
Bible & Music: Influences of the Old Testament on Western Music. This book lists works based on Biblical themes and verses.
Bible & Music

Psalms & Music: Influences of the Psalms on Western Music. This book lists musical settings based on the Psalms. “Psalms have been set to music more than any other biblical texts.…
CONTINUE READING >

Compositions & Works, Concerts

Fathers and Sons: Adler and Weiner

Fathers and Sons Sam Adler and Yehudi Wyner
Two families. Four award-winning composers. The Boston Jewish Music Festival presents a special afternoon of choral and
chamber music.

Featuring the Zamir Chorale of Boston and Kol Arev of Hebrew College, in a concert of the magnificent compositions of Lazar Weiner and his Pulitzer Prize-winning son, Yehudi Wyner, and Cantor Hugo Chaim Adler and his son, Samuel Adler, recipient of the Aaron Copland Award for lifetime achievement in music, this extraordinary program will include participation from both Yehudi Wyner and Samuel Adler.

Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at the door here.
Presented in cooperation with the
Hebrew College School of Jewish Music
Sunday, March 10, 2013
4:00 pm
Northeastern University’s Fenway Center
77 St. Stephen Street, Boston
http://bostonjewishmusicfestival.org/

Competitions/Special Events, Compositions & Works

Kaplan Commissioning Project

for composers of Jewish heritage:
Saint Mary¹s University Concert Band

The seventh Helen and Sam Kaplan Foundation Commission for a new Concert
Band composition written by a composer of Jewish heritage is outlined below.
Any questions should be directed directly to Dr. Janet Heukeshoven, Director
of Bands at Saint Mary¹s University of Minnesota. Contact information is
provided at the end of this notice.

Amount of Commission:
$5,000.00 plus travel/expense allowance for a campus visit at the premier of
the composition.

Description of the Composition:
The work will be scored for standard concert band instrumentation,
appropriate difficulty level for advanced high school bands and collegiate
ensembles. (A ³grade 4² level of difficulty by current educational
standards.) The orchestration of the 2012 project may be extended to
include solo voice or voices.…
CONTINUE READING >

Compositions & Works, Israeli, Women

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

Archive & Library News, Classical or Jewish art music, Compositions & Works

Leo Zeitlin Chamber Music Comes to Life in New Critical Edition

Leo Zeitlin Chamber Music The music world involved in the revival of Jewish national music or recovery of early twentieth century art music of the first order will be dazzled by the new critical edition of Leo Zeitlin’s Chamber Music published by AR Editions, and edited by musicologist and professors Paula Eisenstein Baker and Robert S. Nelson. Texts are presented in original Yiddish, Hebrew, transliterations and English translation.

But who was Leo Zeitlin? It’s not a name in currency today, but is likely to be more familiar now that musicians will have a chance to perform this music, and it is highly recommended that college and university libraries purchase the volume. All but two of the selections are class art pieces based on Jewish themes.

Zeitlin, also known as Leyb or Lev Tseytlin or in Russian as Lev Mordukhovich Tseitlin, was born in Pinsk (now part of Belarus) in 1884.…
CONTINUE READING >

Compositions & Works, WHERE: Great Britain

Rona Kenan Workshop

Rona Kenan Workshop
“An intimate session of music and talk.”
This event is planned to start at 6:00 pm on Jul 8, 2008 at SOAS.

an Israeli Singer/Songwriter on Tuesday 8th July (6 – 9pm) in a workshop all about her songs and the Israeli music scene. Plus there will be a jam afterwards so bring your instruments. Singer Songwriters all welcome!

Room G3, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG

CD Releases, Compositions & Works

CD Release for Teach My Lips a Blessing: The Music of Erik Contzius

Erik Contzius Teach My Lips a Blessing
“Teach My Lips a Blessing: The Music of Erik Contzius” makes its
debut at Temple Israel of New Rochelle on June 20, 2008. Recorded
with the Amor Artis Chamber Choir under the baton of Maestro Johannes
Somary, Christopher Creaghan, organist, guest cantors Helene Reps and
Hayley Kobilinsky, tenor Jacob Meiner and the Youth Choir of Temple
Israel, Cantor Erik Contzius lends his baritone voice and
compositional style to this CD of twenty works for the synagogue.
This collection highlights the grandeur of the Reform prayer service
as well as several of the Psalms and other liturgies. Contzius’
composition, “And Hannah Prayed,” featured on this recording was
recently selected as a finalist at Shalshelet’s Third International
Festival of New Jewish Liturgical Music in Wisconsin.

“Teach My Lips a Blessing” is available through digital distributors
such as iTunes and Amazon.com, and is available as a physical CD at
< http://cdbaby.com/cd/contzius.…
CONTINUE READING >

Competitions/Special Events, Compositions & Works, WHERE: Europe

Jewish Music Festival to be at Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam

From May 9-12, 2008, Amsterdam’s new
concert hall, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, will host the premiere of the
International Jewish Music Festival in its new format. The main event
of the festival will be a 3-day Competition for Jewish music ensembles.

For the first time ever, a jury of international Jewish music experts
will judge a competition for musicians and ensembles with a goal of
an international career focusing on Jewish music. This includes folk,
pop, klezmer, classical, and liturgical music, and music by Jewish
composers with clearly discernible Jewish elements.

Contestants are welcome from all countries and do not need to be
Jewish, but must be 16 years or older. Registration forms & more
information are now available online: www.ijmf.org

The jury will include leading figures from the music and recording
industry including Peter van der Heyden (Universal Music) and Frank
London (The Klezmatics).…
CONTINUE READING >

Compositions & Works

Sharon Farber Commission Premiers this October in Israel

Composer Sharon Farber has recently been commissioned by The Israeli Chamber
Orchestra to compose a new work, which will open up the 2007/8 Season. The
piece, entitled Translucent Rocks will be premiered on October 15th, 2007
in Israel.

Ms. Farber is also the recent First Prize Winner of the Cincinnati Camerata
Composition Competition with her piece The Third Mother/Mothers’ Lament.
This A cappella piece was written in memory of slain reporter Daniel Pearl
and premiered by The Los Angeles Master Chorale. Ms. Farber¹s commissioned
works have been performed internationally, and her acclaimed concert piece
for choir, orchestra and ethnic instruments, ASHKINA, (featuring the
renowned musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek), was performed in Boston by the
prestigious MUSICA SACRA choir in March, 2007.

In April, Ms.…
CONTINUE READING >

Competitions/Special Events, Compositions & Works

Composition Competition

American Recorder Society ▪ Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet ▪
Composition Competition

The American Recorder Society, in collaboration with the Amsterdam
Loeki Stardust Quartet (ALSQ), is pleased to announce its composition
competition for recorder music. The competition’s goal is to expand
the recorder quartet repertoire with new music for professional recorder
players by composers from the United States and Canada.

Further information on ALSQ is available
on their web site: http://www.loekistardust.nl/html_en/index.html

Compositions & Works, WHERE: Israel, Yiddish or Folk

Ruth Levin’s new Yiddish music anthology

Ruth Levin has produced Word and Melody, an anthology of music to Yiddish poetry by her father, published by I.L. Peretz Publications. The anthology – with texts in Yiddish, English and Hebrew — was launched in Tel Aviv this past weekend. Reminiscences and performances were provided by Alexei Blausov, Regina Drukker, Benny Hendel, Melech Ziv, Prof. Zvi Yavetz, Vera Levinski, Ella Levin, Lev Levin, Ruth Levin, Nechama Lifshitz, Arye Lish, Avishai Fish and Moti Shmit. The anthology contains 49 melodies to songs by 21 Yiddish poets as well photographs and drawings, piano arrangements by Hanan Winternitz, and a preface and epilogue written by Ruth Levin.

Compositions & Works

Jewish Vocal Repertoire Being Compiled

Cantor Ken Jaffe is completing the final phases of a large bibliography of vocal compositions of Jewish music. It is a comprehensive and annotated work of large scale pieces for solo voice(s) on Jewish themes by Jewish composers. He is interested in knowing about compositions that he may not have included in this work thus far. If you know of, or have created solo vocal compositions of ten minutes or greater in length, on Jewish themes, please write to him and let him know the information. The book is scheduled to be published in about a year by Scarecrow Press. Please respond by February 14, 2006 and write directly to Cantor Jaffe at.zazasdad@copper.net.

Compositions & Works

NEW COMPOSITIONS SWAMP INAUGURAL FESTIVAL INVITATION by SHALSHELET

169 SUBMISSIONS FROM 5 COUNTRIES AND 19 U.S. STATES THRILL SHALSHELET BOARD
One year ago, the Chevy Chase, Maryland-based organization devoted to
finding and sharing new Jewish liturgical music didn?t even exist.
Today, it is relishing the task of selecting the best from among 169
pieces of music written by composers from 5 countries and 19 U.S.
states.

?We are absolutely thrilled,? said Dr. Norma Brooks, vice president
of Shalshelet: The Foundation for New Jewish Liturgical Music. ?A
festival highlighting new music for congregational singing was just
an idea, a dream. Where would the music come from? How would
composers find us? Well, they did, in a very big way,? she said,
pointing to a three-inch-thick stack of submitted sheet music and the
four accompanying review CDs.