Works by American Composers Steven R. Gerber and Benjamin Lees To Have German Premieres at Berlin's Neue Synagogue - Centrum Judaicum on Sunday, November 17 American composers Steven R. Gerber and Benjamin Lees will both receive German Premieres of major chamber works on Sunday, November 17 - 8 PM at Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum, located at Oranienburger Strasse 28/30. Mr. Gerber's "Spirituals" for Clarinet and String Quartet (1992) and Mr. Lees' Piano Trio "Silent Voices" (1998) will be presented along with Mendelssohn's Piano Quartet No. 2 in a program series titled "Remembering Felix." This is the second of two programs, the first on November 16, presenting other works by Mendelssohn, as well as Ernest Toch and Robert Starer, whose piece is entitled "Remembering Felix." Music Director and pianist for this concert series will be Vladimir Stoupel. Mr. Stoupel, a native of Moscow and graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, was a 1986 prizewinner at the International Piano Competition in Geneva after which he gave his European debut recitals. His virtuosity, extensive and difficult repertoire and lucid interpretations have garnered wide acclaim from the international music community. Other performers for these concerts will include Anna Rabinova and Alexander Kortschmar, violins, Igor Budinstein, viola, Friedemann Ludwig, cello, Alexander Glucksman, clarinet and Steven R. Gerber's music has gained international attention as a result of two recent CD releases (on Chandos and KOCH) featuring several of his major orchestral works, including Symphony No. 1, Serenade for String Orchestra and the Violin, Viola and Cello Concertos. Mr. Gerber has written for a number of fine soloists including Yuri Bashmet, Kurt Nikkanen and Carter Brey and has had his music performed by groups such as the Knoxville Chamber Orchestra, the Fine Arts Quartet, the National Chamber Orchestra and the Russian Philharmonic. The Concertante Chamber Players commissioned Mr. Gerber to create "Spirituals", a multi-movement work for clarinet and string quartet. Based on pre-existing material and drawing from various aspects of Negro spirituals, Mr. Gerber has stated that: "The intention is not in any way to deconstruct or even re-interpret the original spirituals, but merely to use them as the basis for new inspirations whose character is sometimes similar to, sometimes totally different from the source materials" For more information about Steven R. Gerber, visit his website at http://www.stevengerber.com/. Benjamin Lees "Silent Voices" for piano, violin and cello was premiered at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC on May 31,1998, and has since been premiered in Paris, Orlando and New York City. The work is published by Boosey & Hawkes - http://www.boosey.com/. Of his Piano Trio No 2- "Silent Voices", Benjamin Lees writes, "This work represents a small gesture of remembrance to those whose voices were forever stilled by pogroms and genocides of the past. I have tried to blend the elements of drama, grief and lyricism into a very compact musical statement in the hope that this will be communicated to the listener." The work is dedicated to Joseph Holt, George Marsh, Steven Honigberg (the original performers of the work) and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Mr. Lees other major Holocaust work, Symphony No. 4 (Memorial Candles) was commissioned and premiered by the Dallas Symphony in 1985. It has since been performed by the Israel Philharmonic and the London Philharmonia, as well as the Houston, Winnipeg and Atlanta Symphonies. A recording of Symphony No. 4 has recently been issued on the Naxos label. Reviewing the disc, Stephen Pettitt of The Sunday Times (U.K.) called Symphony No. 4 a work of "immense power and ambition, evoking all the fear, desolation and darkness of that terrible episode." For more information about Benjamin Lees, visit his website at http://home.dc.rr.com/bglees/. For more information about either Steven R. Gerber or Benjamin Lees, please contact Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 - tel and fax or [log in to unmask] Jeffrey James <[log in to unmask]>