Jewish Music & Poetry Project – April 5, 2013
David Garner Phönix World PremiereEdwin Geist Three Lithuanian Songs West Coast PremiereDavid Garner Chanson für MorgenGabriela Lena Frank Barcarola LatinoamericanaElena Ruehr Prelude No. 3Osvaldo Golijov Zzs Dream (piano version)… and moreBack from their European premiere in Berlin, soprano Nanette McGuinness and pianist Dale Tsang-Hall of the Jewish Music & Poetry Project perform new music to Jewish women’s poetry or by Jewish composers, in honor of Yom Hashoah (April 8, 2013). The program features the premiere of Phönix, written for them by 2013 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Music nominee Garner to wry, wistful poems by Ukrainian/Romanian-Jewish writer Rose Ausländer, the West Coast premiere of Edwin Geist’s Three Lithuanian Songs (1939–40), Garner’s Kaléko cycle, Chanson für Morgen—including the newest song that Garner added for the Berlin premiere—and music by Ruth Lomon and Alexander Zemlinsky, along with solo piano works by Berkeleys fabulous own Gabriela Lena Frank, rising star M.I.T. Elena Ruehr, Argentine Grammy-award winner Osvaldo Golijov, and Czech composer Vitezslava Kapralova (1915–1940). Described in the press as a “glorious soprano” with “a magnetic stage presence” and “a creamy golden tone,” award-winning soprano McGuinness has performed operas, oratorios and symphonies in nine languages on two continents. She is joined by her regular JMPP collaborator, van Cliburn competitor and former child prodigy Tsang-Hall.