MARK ZUCKERMAN: BECAUSE
Choral Music for Four VoicesMark Zuckerman
THE GOLDENE KEYT SINGERS
Mary Ellen Callahan
Hsi-Ling Chang
Michael Steinberger
Tom Meglioranza
World Premiere Recordings
[MS1146]
LISTEN
REVIEWS
"The music here is conservative, accessible, slightly dissonant, and mostly chordal...These are serious, well-made pieces...I cannot imagine this music being better performed...The recording quality is admirably natural."Fanfare - November/December 2006
"The brief settings [of 'Proverbs'] are striking, the blend of voices often both intriguing and moving...Also very successful is Kol Dodi, a [in which] Traditional Jewish idioms and inflections are handled with a thoroughly modern compositional sophistication...Grant Us Peace [is] intriguing music of deceptive simplicity...There is much that is subtle, persuasive and – quite simply – beautiful about these settings...The choral quartet is admirable throughout...This is a striking collection of choral miniatures."
MusicWeb UK - July 2006
PROGRAM NOTES
MARK ZUCKERMAN holds a PhD in composition from Princeton University, and was a student of Milton Babbitt, David Epstein, J. K. Randall, and Elie Yarden. He has taught composition, tonal and atonal theory, orchestration, and computer music at Princeton and Columbia Universities, and published numerous scholarly articles and a book on listening to jazz, drawn from a popular jazz survey course he taught at Princeton and Columbia. He has written a bunch of choral music – achieving a growing international reputation – in English, Hebrew and Yiddish, including some 20 arrangements of Yiddish songs for a cappella mixed chorus. His choral music has been performed and recorded by The Gregg Smith Singers, Chicago A Cappella, The Workmen’s Circle Chorus, The New Yiddish Chorale, and The Jewish People’s Philharmonic Chorus, among others, and is published by E. C. Schirmer, Transcontinental Music and Carl Fischer. Mark Zuckerman received a 2004 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.THE GOLDENE KEYT SINGERS
Soprano Mary Ellen Callahan appears frequently as soloist in a variety of repertoires from Renaissance to contemporary. Familiar to New York City audiences as soloist with the Collegiate Chorale, Riverside Choral Society, Dessoff Choirs and Central City Chorus, she has also performed with a number of symphony orchestras.
Mezzo-soprano Hsi-Ling Chang grew up in Taiwan and in Spokane, Washington. She received her Master's degree in piano performance from the University of Houston where she studied with Abbey Simon. In addition to her work as a pianist and singer, she is a Grammy-nominated recording engineer.
Tenor Michael Steinberger made his New York Philharmonic solo debut with Audra McDonald in Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins. Well-known to audiences as a member of prestigious ensembles like Pomerium and the Waverly Consort, he is increasingly in demand as a featured soloist. His credits - in addition to classical styles from medieval through contemporary - include jazz, pop and world music.
Baritone Thomas Meglioranza is quickly establishing himself as one of the country's most sought after singers for a wide variety of repertoire including oratorio, opera and orchestral works. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, he has sung work by many of America’s best-known composers, including music written especially for his voice.
PROGRAM
MARK ZUCKERMANBecause
Laughing Song
Grow Old Along With Me
Ani L'Dodi V'Alay T'Shukato
Proverbs for Four at Fifty
Oz V'Hadar L'Vushah
L'Khah Nirveh Dodim
D'rakheyha Darkhey Noam
Reyshit Khakhmah
Kol Dodi
Doyres fun der tsukunft
Shtiler, shtiler
Gebet
Grant Us Peace
MSR Classics