Meira Warshauer Shabbat with King David to Be Performed on July 23 At
Williams College as Part of Berkshire Institute for Music & Arts
Meira Warshauer's Shabbat with King David for string orchestra will be
performed as part of the opening concert of the Berkshire Institute for
Music & Arts Festival on July 23 - 6:00 PM at Chapin Hall, Chapin Hall
Drive on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Performers will be the string orchestra of the Berkshire Institute for
Music & Arts, conducted by Jessie Ivry.
Ms. Warshauer has written this about the work, 'Shabbat with King David
combines two melodies: a pentatonic melody on D and an e-minor melody.
I associate the pentatonic melody with the biblical King David and his
ecstatic dancing when bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem.
The melody came to me one Friday night (the beginning of the Jewish
Sabbath) in June when I found myself dancing and singing in the moonlight
along the ocean shore, with the joyous spirit of King David. The words
dovid melech yisrael chai chai v'kayam,(David king of Israel lives
forever) which are found in traditional songs about King David, also
came with this melody. The e-minor melody came later, along with the
Hebrew words hayom yom menucha (today is the day of rest) which are
used to describe the Sabbath. So both melodies have to do with Shabbat
(Sabbath), and the first one has links to King David, hence the title,
Shabbat with King David.'
For more information about this concert or other BIMA programs, please
contact them at (413) 597-6197 or visit them online at
http://www.bimasummerarts.org/index.htm.
Meira Warshauer's compositions have been performed and recorded to
critical acclaim throughout the United States and in Israel, Europe, and
Asia. A graduate of Harvard, New England Conservatory of Music, and the
University of South Carolina, Dr. Warshauer studied composition with
Mario Davidovsky, Jacob Druckman, William Thomas McKinley, and Gordon
Goodwin. She has received numerous awards from ASCAP as well as the
America Music Center, Meet the Composer, and the South Carolina Arts
Commission. In 2000, she received the first Art and Cultural Achievement
Award from the Jewish Historical Society of S. Carolina.
In February 2006, three major works of Meira Warshauer's, Ahavah (Love),
Shacharit (Morning Service) and Like Streams in the Desert, were performed
in concert and recorded for Fall 2006 CD release by the Slovak Radio
Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic Choir, soprano Jennifer
Hines, mezzo soprano Stephanie Gregory and tenor Michael Hendrick, all
under the direction of Maestro Kirk Trevor in Bratislava, Slovakia. You
can read a complete account of Dr. Warshauer's trip to Bratislava online
through her Sequenza21 blog at http://www.sequenza21.com/warshauer.html.
Dr. Warshauer is a Visiting Lecturer at Columbia College, Columbia,
South Carolina. Her CDs include the soundtrack to the documentary Land
of Promise: The Jews of South Carolina and Spirals of Light, chamber
music and poetry (by Ani Tuzman) on themes of enlightenment, on the Kol
Meira label and "Revelation" for orchestra, included on the MMC CD Robert
Black Conducts. Her music is published by Oxford University Press, MMB
Music, World Music Press and Kol Meira Publications. Her latest Bracha
Newsletter is online at
http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/march06/MW_nws_030906.htm. You can
find much more about her at http://home.sc.rr.com/meirawarshauer/.
For more information about Meira Warshauer, please contact Jeffrey James
Arts Consulting at 516-586-3433 or [log in to unmask]
Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
45 Grant Avenue
Farmingdale, NY 11735 USA
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