And All The Days Were Purple
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Album Launch Concert and Party
Co-sponsored by the American Society for Jewish Music Admission: Free |
Celebrate the debut of and all the days were purple, a new album by composer Alex Weiser featuring Yiddish and English poems set to music. Bringing together poetry by Anna Margolin, Edward Hirsch, Rachel Korn, Abraham Sutzkever, and others, Weiser's work searches for the divine while reflecting on human longing in the midst of life's beauty and tumult. These new songs emerge in part from his encounters with Jewish music and Yiddish literary culture as Director of Public Programs at YIVO.
Performances by Eliza Bagg, Daniel Schlosberg, Maya Bennardo, Hannah Levinson, Hannah Collins, and Mike Compitello, will include a selection of songs from the new album, as well as the premiere of new arrangements of Yiddish and Hebrew songs from the YIVO Archives by composers Joel Engel, Moses Milner, Lazare Saminsky, and Alexander Veprik, created by Weiser for the occasion.
The album, which will be released by Cantaloupe Music on April 12, 2019, will be available for pre-release purchase and signing after the concert at a special reception with food inspired by the poetry on the album.
Alex Weiser in conversation with Eddy Portnoy and Annie Gosfield.
A LABA interview with Alex Weiser.
About the Composer
Alex Weiser is the Director of Public Programs of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City, and a composer of music with broad gestures, rich textures, and narrative sweep, which has been called “compelling” (New York Times), and “shapely, melody-rich” (Wall Street Journal). Born and raised in New York City, Weiser creates acutely cosmopolitan music combining a deeply felt historical perspective with a vibrant forward-looking creativity. Weiser has been praised for writing “insightful” music “of great poetic depth” (Feast of Music), and for having a “sophisticated ear and knack for evoking luscious textures and imaginative yet approachable harmonies” (I Care If You Listen). An energetic advocate for contemporary classical music and for the work of his peers, Weiser co-founded and directs Kettle Corn New Music, an “ever-enjoyable,” and “engaging” concert series which “creates that ideal listening environment that so many institutions aim for: relaxed, yet allowing for concentration” (New York Times), and was for nearly five years a director of the MATA Festival, “the city’s leading showcase for vital new music by emerging composers” (The New Yorker). At YIVO, Weiser curates and produces programs that combine a fascination with and curiosity for historical context, with an eye toward influential Jewish contributions to the culture of today and tomorrow.