Music in Our Time: 2009

Sunday, June 7th at the Center for Jewish History
Celebrating the Siegmeister Centenary
“Music in Our Time,” the annual concert of Jewish music by contemporary composers, presented by the American Society for Jewish Music in association with the American Jewish Historical Society, will be given on Sunday, June 7th at 3 PM at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th Street, NYC).
For tickets $18 ($12 members); $6 for Students and Seniors, call 212-868-4444 or
www.smarttix.com or
contact the Box Office: (917) 606-8200 /
href=”mailto:boxoffice@cjh.org”>boxoffice@cjh.org.


Elie Siegmeister’s String Quartet No.3 “On Hebrew Themes,” will be the featured work on the program, highlighting the centenary celebration of Seigmeister’s birth. The performance also includes Jewish-themed works by Leonard Bernstein (“Three Wedding Dances” from Bridal Suite, for piano three (!) hands and four songs written for various famous singing friends), Michael Alec Rose (“The Tree of Life”), David Leisner (“Acrobats” based on a short story of Polish Jews called “The Tumblers”), Louis Karchin (“A Way Separate” with poetry by Ruth Whitman and Hannah Senesh) and Israeli-American composer Max Stern (“Quartet from the East”). These composers have shown a continuing interest in writing music with Jewish themes and references, among their other works.

Music in Our Time: 2009 is a collaboration of the American Society for Jewish Music and the Mannes College of the New School of Music, under the leadership of Dean Joel Lester. Students from the College have frequently participated in performances of Jewish contemporary music, in an effort by the Society and the School to introduce Jewish-themed music into to the repertoire generally offered and performed in academic and conservatory settings.

For tickets $18 ($12 members); $6 for Students and Seniors, call 212-868-4444 or www.smarttix.com or contact the Box Office: (917) 606-8200 / boxoffice@cjh.org.