From Jewish Folk to Art song: New repertoires, new perceptions
The end of this Project will be celebrated in a Recital concert of Jewish art songs and duets on November 16th 7.30 at the Hampstead Town Hall – London NW3


This project explores the repertoire of art songs, from the 19th
to 21st centuries, based on Jewish folk music and folk style and investigates the way in which Jewish folk elements are transformed into their new westernized concert contexts. Folk music has provided a rich source of melodic and rhythmic motives for composers throughout history. It is a source that has been endlessly researched, and inspired composers to create complex and sophistical musical ideas and realizations, such as Brahms's Gypsy songs, Dvorak’s Biblical songs, and Ravel’s Greek and Hebrew songs and many other works. Alongside such composers are Jewish composers who have dealt in similar ways with folk material. These include M. Mozkovsky, Lazar Weiner, Vladimir Heifetz, Simon Laks, Alberto Hemsi, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Israeli composers including Ben-Haim, Yehezkel Braun and Menachem Wiesenberg to name but a few.

As a performer involved mainly in art song and opera, I have encountered a large repertoire of these Jewish art songs which have seldom or never been performed in Britain, nor on the continent. It is a repertoire that is known to a very small circle of artists and few listeners. This repertoire by renowned Israeli, American, Spanish, Polish and Russian composers is hardly available either through performance or recordings, either to classically-trained singers nor a more general audience. Few of their works feature in suggested repertoire lists in music colleges in Britain or Europe nor among professional singers and concert promoters. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of recordings and performances which would provide wider exposure of this rich and resourceful material.

My aim in this project is to fill this lacunae and to present these songs in a variety of venues, including music colleges, major concert halls, and in broadcasts and recordings, to ensure that this music of high quality will find its deserved place in the classical recital repertoire of the future. I also propose to explore the techniques and aesthetics involved in transforming a folk source into an art composition and thus deepen appreciation of these works.

Benefits of the project for the community
The project involves research into new repertoire, written exposition of new ideas and includes recitals, workshops and recordings. As a result there are several ways in which the Jewish and wider community may benefit, as follows:

• The Jewish community will have the opportunity to experience and appreciate in greater depth well-known folk songs presented in a concert context.
  
• The wider community will be invited to embrace new repertoire they have never had a chance to hear before, except through close acquaintance with Jewish neighbors and culture (e.g. attending simchas, weddings, synagogue services).
  
• Performers of Classical vocal music will be presented with new, interesting and challenging repertoire.
  
• Sheet music and recordings will be added to enhance the JMI library at SOAS.
  
• The recitals and CD will be a means to interest record companies in new material for a large distribution.
  
• Folk song often has associations of childhood memories, and the focus on the transformation of folk song into art song enables the possibility of deepening perceptions of folk songs and their artistic possibilities. The project offers the possibility of preserving these folk songs, for the benefit of future generations.
  
• The project would enable composers to have their music performed and recorded by artists of a high standard.
  
• The project as a whole enables the music itself to make an important statement, to highlight the qualities of a new repertoire and to underline the significance of Jewish folk and art music within the wider context of Jewish culture and history