Judith Shatin’s Chai Variations on Eliahu HaNavi
will be performed
by pianist Mary Kathleen Ernst
on 4/29/12 at 3:00 p.m. at the Roberts Music Center
4200 54th Ave S, Saint Petersburg, FL 33711
on the Eckerd College Recital Series
and
on 5/06/12 at 3:00 p.m. at the Crocker Art Museum
216 O Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
916.808.7000
in conjunction with the Judy Chicago Exhibition in Sacramento, CA.

Mary Kathleen Ernst website: www.marykathleenernst.com
My website: www.judithshatin.com

Program notes:

Chai Variations on Eliahu HaNavi was inspired by the folk song
Eliahu HaNavi (Elijah the Prophet), often sung during the closing
service of the Jewish Sabbath. The letters of Chai, which means
life or living in Hebrew, symbolically stand for the number 18;
hence, 18 variations. I decided to give the performer a choice
regarding the ordering of the variations as a reflection of my
sense of performance as a collaboration between performer and
composer (and, for that matter, listener). It also reflects a
dynamic conception of musical form. This means that there are
18! Or 6,402,373,705,728,000 possible orderings. In other
words, there are six quadrillion, four-hundred-two trillion,
three-hundred-seventy-three billion, seven-hundred-five
million and seven-hundred-twenty-eight thousand possible
versions! I composed this work while in residence at Brahmshaus
in Baden-Baden during the summer of 1995. It is dedicated to
the Abel family. Their warm welcome will not soon be forgotten.