David Krakauer: In the Footsteps of the Zimro Ensemble

Rarely heard Jewish-themed classical music performed by Grammy-nominated klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer and other acclaimed artists, presented by the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival

NEW YORK, NY — The Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival (PJMF) presents the celebrated klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer in a concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of the original Zimro Ensemble's sold-out Carnegie Hall concert, Monday, November 4, in Weill Recital Hall.

The Zimro Ensemble was a sextet of virtuoso musicians who championed early Jewish-themed classical music. Their story is of the immigrant experience and international musical ambassadorship in the early 20th century. 

This concert will recreate the program the Zimro sextet originally brought to life at Carnegie Hall in 1919. Considered "hot off the press" at the time, the rich repertoire is all derived from authentic Eastern European Jewish folk sources and has since rarely been heard.

The program includes works by Alexander Krein, I. Kaplan, Leo Zeitlin, and Solomon Rosowsky who have been championed on the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival's five-volume album series of "Russian Jewish Classics", released by independent British label Toccata Classics. 

The series' newest album release is devoted to the chamber music of Alexander Krein and coincides with this concert, which reunites David Krakauer and PJMF musicians for a performance of the composer’s Jewish Sketches No.1.

To update this program for a contemporary audience, PJMF Founder & Director and cellist Aron Zelkowicz has included several works by living composers who were inspired by explicitly Jewish source material. The final movement of Jan Radzynski's Three Hebrew Melodies for piano quintet draws on Middle-Eastern, Mediterranean, and biblical influences found in the works of so many other Israeli composers. The Divertimento from Gimpel the Fool by American composer David Schiff translates the old world of the Eastern European shtetl through a more contemporary-sounding idiom. A pair of arrangements by Ljova underscores how the appeal of klezmer music has transcended popular and classical music boundaries.

The November 4th program concludes with the enduring Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34 by Sergei Prokofiev, written in 1920 during his American sojourn. It remains to this day the only recognizable work commissioned for and premiered by the Zimro Ensemble, and one of the only standard works for the combination of string quartet, clarinet, and piano (alongside Copland's Sextet). As a compelling side note, the Zimro Ensemble returned to Carnegie Hall just a few months after their original debut to perform this overture based on traditional Jewish folk tunes by a non-Jewish Soviet composer.

Widely considered one of the greatest clarinetists on the planet, David Krakauer has been praised internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer music as well as a major voice in classical music. In 2015 he received a Grammy nomination in the Chamber Music/Small Ensemble category as soloist with the conductorless orchestra A Far Cry, and a Juno nomination for the CD Akoka with cellist Matt Haimovitz.

On November 4, Mr. Krakauer is joined on stage by an award-winning lineup of musicians including violinists Nurit Pacht and Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violist Melissa Reardon, cellist Aron Zelkowicz, and pianist Kathleen Tagg.

The featured musicians represent a rich history in connection with Jewish art-music. Nurit Pacht performed the North American premiere of a concerto written for her by Israeli composer Noam Sheriff. Kelly Hall-Tompkins was the violin soloist in Bartlett Sher's revival of The Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway. She continues to perform her own instrumental arrangements from Fiddler and has been featured in The New York Times as well as a major new documentary film (Miracle of Miracles) for her role in the show.

Throughout the various performances at the concert, Aron Zelkowicz will tell the story of the Zimro Ensemble's significance to the early Zionist movement and how the group's members used the tour to immigrate to New York and contribute to the American classical music scene.

The Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival is co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and Rodef Shalom Congregation. This concert is supported in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Major support also comes from the Heinz Endowments Small Arts Initiative and the A.W. Mellon Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation.

More information can be found on the Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival website. Purchase tickets online at Carnegie Hall’s website.

CONCERT LISTING

Monday, November 4, 2019, 8:00pm

Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall 

CarnegieHall.org

All tickets: $35

FEATURING

David Krakauer, clarinet

Nurit Pacht and Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violins

Melissa Reardon, viola   

Aron Zelkowicz, cello 

Kathleen Tagg, piano

PROGRAM

KREIN Jewish Sketches No.1, Op. 12

ROSOWSKY Fantastic Dance for Piano Trio, Op. 6

RADZYNSKI "Ken Yovdu" from Three Hebrew Melodies

DAVID SCHIFF Divertimento from Gimpel the Fool

PROKOFIEV Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op.34

And works by Kaplan, Zeitlin, Stutschewsky, and Ljova