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| Noted Music Writer Richard Dyer to Host Discussion
of Ernest Bloch's legacy and his Sacred Service
with Bloch's grandson Ernest Bloch II &
Bloch authority Joshua Jacobson
before landmark Sunday, March 14 Concert
Featuring Bloch's Avodath Hakodesh
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For Immediate Release
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Boston, MA—Noted former Boston Globe music writer, journalist and critic Richard Dyer will host an extended discussion with Ernest Bloch II, grandson of famed composer Ernest Bloch, and Joshua Jacobson, Artistic Director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston and a recognized authority on Bloch's work, at 3:00 pm on Sunday, March 14 at John Hancock Hall [180 Berkeley Street, Boston]. The discussion will focus on composer Ernest Bloch's legacy and especially his Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service).
The event immediately precedes the performance of the Sacred Service by Chorus pro Musica, the Zamir Chorale, and the New England Philharmonic. Admission to the talk is free for all concert ticket holders. The performance is the grand finale of the first Boston Jewish Music Festival and commemorates the 50th anniversary of Ernest Bloch's death.
Richard Dyer wrote about music for 33 years in the Boston Globe. Currently he is busy writing and teaching and writes the scripts for the weekly podcasts for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has served on the jury for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition three times, and holds honorary degrees from Salem State College and New England Conservatory. He has twice won the ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award for distinguished music criticism.
Ernest Bloch II, the son of Ernest Bloch's son Ivan, grew up near Portland, Oregon, not far from his grandfather's home. He now lives in Portland and is actively engaged in preserving his grandfather's memory and legacy.
Joshua Jacobson, Founder and Artistic Director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston, is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Northeastern University and Visiting Professor and acting Dean of the School of Jewish Music at Hebrew College. His article, “Universalism and Particularism in Ernest Bloch's Sacred Service,” appears in the Nov. 2009 Choral Journal, the official publication of The American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). Jacobson is past President of the Massachusetts chapter of the ACDA. A published scholar and composer, he holds degrees in Music from Harvard College, the New England Conservatory, and the University of Cincinnati. His book, Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation, was a 2002 finalist for the National Jewish Book Award.
The performance of Avodath Hakodesh, beginning at 4 pm, is led by Chorus pro Musica's Music Director Betsy Burleigh and features baritone soloist David Kravitz. Also performed is the world premiere of Kaddish Prayer, commissioned by the chorus from distinguished composer Andrew Rindfleisch.
Concert tickets for the March 14 performance are $25, $40 and $50, with 10% discounts available on selected seats for groups, students, seniors and WGBH members. Reserved seats may be selected and tickets purchased at www.choruspromusica.org, or by phone (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) at 800-658-4CPM (800-658-4276). For wheelchair-accessible seats, call 617-267-7442.
Bloch's Sacred Service is a monumental work for chorus, soloists and full orchestra, one of the 20th century's great expressions of devotion and certainly one of the greatest works of Jewish concert music. Commissioned by Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco and premiered in 1934, it is a grand Jewish Oratorio that has been compared in ambition to Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. It rises from rich ethnic roots to offer a universal vision of peace and unity.
Baritone David Kravitz is widely celebrated for his vocal skill, power and intelligence in a wide variety of roles on both operatic and concert stages. He last delighted Chorus pro Musica audiences as Ping in last year's Turandot. He has recently appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine (in Berlioz's Les Troyens and Damnation of Faust) as well as with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Cantata Singers, Providence Singers, Boston Baroque and Emmanuel Music, among others, to uniformly high critical praise. He is featured on two recordings scheduled for release this year on the BMOP/sound label: Andy Vores' song cycle "Goback Goback" and John Harbison's Winter's Tale.
Andrew Rindfleisch is an internationally active composer, conductor, and pianist who is currently a Professor of Music and Head of Music Composition Studies at Cleveland State University. His dozens of compositions include solo, chamber, vocal, choral, orchestral, and wind music as well as jazz and related forms of improvisation. Rindfleisch is the 1997–98 recipient of the Rome Prize, and more recently received the Cleveland Arts Prize, the Aaron Copland Award, and the Koussevitzky Foundation Commission from the Library of Congress. He received a Masters of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Debuting March 6–14, 2010, the Boston Jewish Music Festival presents concerts, workshops, lectures and school programs that represent the full range of Jewish music, from Horas to Hip Hop, classic cantorial to contemporary compositions, including rock, Klezmer, and Ladino. Programs take place throughout Greater Boston, including Berklee Performance Center, John Hancock Hall, the Vilna Shul, Leventhal Sidman JCC, North Shore JCC, Solomon Schechter South, Temple Israel Boston, Temple Israel Natick, and Gann Academy.
Chorus pro Musica's 61st season concludes on Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 3 pm at NEC's Jordan Hall with works celebrating Spring, Love and the Tavern, including Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and Dominick Argento's Odi et amo (I Hate and I Love). The performance will feature Carl Orff's own arrangement of Carmina Burana for two pianos and percussion. Regular-price tickets for the June 6 concert are $27, $42 and $57; the price includes a $2 restoration fee for Jordan Hall.
Chorus pro Musica is a distinguished, independent Boston-based chorus recognized for versatility and excellence in performing traditional, adventurous and seldom-heard works. The chorus was founded in 1949 by the late Alfred Nash Patterson and quickly built a superb reputation for its professional-level musical standards and innovative programming. These strengths have led to collaborations with such organizations as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra as well as with opera companies including the Opera Company of Boston and Commonwealth Opera.
Betsy Burleigh, in her debut season as Music Director, has been Music Director since 2005 of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, a renowned 115-voice chorus founded in 1908 that is the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's chorus of choice. She recently moved to Boston from Cleveland where she was Assistant Director of Choruses for The Cleveland Orchestra and a full professor at Cleveland State University. For five years she served as Chorus Master for Cleveland Opera.
Ms. Burleigh has led the Pittsburgh Symphony, Opera Cleveland, the Akron Symphony, and the Canton Symphony Orchestras. She conducted the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus on an Emmy award-winning benefit concert for the 9/11 Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, and received the Northern Ohio Live Achievement Award for music direction of Viktor Ullman's opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis with Cleveland Public Theater. In February 2009 she conducted the Mendelssohn Chamber Chorus on the Library of Congress concert series in Washington, D.C.
She is no stranger to Boston: She was Music Director of The Master Singers from 1985-1991 and Music Director for the Longy Chamber Singers and the Cambridge Madrigal Singers, among other positions. She holds a doctorate in choral conducting from Indiana University and a masters degree from the New England Conservatory of Music.
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