Resonances, revisitings, and reflections of Jewish symbols in the music of Ayal Adler
Ayal Adler in conversation with Malcolm Miller about the Israeli composer’s creative influences and inspiration in vocal and instrumental composition of nearly three decades.
NB: Below are links are to some of the works to be discussed, which you may wish to listen to in advance:
Solitary, I return from the Night, three songs for Soprano and Orchestra. Texts- David Vogel. Hila Baggio, sopr, Israeli Camerata Jerusalem, Uriel Segal, cond. Tel Aviv Museum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNsxrTHkIZw
Hidden Light , for large Ensemble. UMZE Ensemble, Gregory Vajda, cond. Budapest Music Center
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbSVL5AFdPU
Concerto for Mandolin and Strings. Yaki Reuven, Mandolin, Symphonette Orchestra Raanana, Omer Meir Wellber, cond.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrFUOHnGIQY
Misterioso for Piano. Amit Dolberg, piano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1g16Aui29E
Ayal Adler’s compositions have been performed worldwide to warm acclaim. His symphonic work Resonating Sounds was premiered by Daniel Barenboim and the West- Eastern Divan Orchestra at the BBC Proms. Crystallization was re-premiered by Zubin Mehta and the Israeli Philharmonic, and Alone, I Return from the Night was premiered by the Munich Philharmonic under Omer Meir Wellber with soprano Hila Baggio.
Adler received his Doctorate in Composition from McGill University, and is Senior Lecturer in Composition at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, recently serving as Director of the Israeli Composers’ League. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including First Prize at the International Composition Competition RMN, London, the Prime- Minister Composition Award, and others, and is a frequent adjudicator at composition competitions. His works are published mainly by the Israeli Music Institute.
http://ayaladler.com
Malcolm Miller, musicologist and pianist, is Honorary Associate and Associate Lecturer at the Open University, UK and teaches at the City Literary Institute and Morley College. He has published widely on 19th-21st century music including Beethoven, Wagner, and Jewish and Israeli music. Book chapters include ‘Friendship and Exile: The Correspondence between Paul Frankenburger/ Ben-Haim and Otto Crusius, Friedrich Crusius and Otto Eduard Crusius’ in Jüdische Musik im süddeutschen Raum/Mapping Jewish Music of Southern Germany (Allitera Verlag, 2021), ‘Music as Memory’ in The Impact of Nazism on Twentieth-Century Music (Bohlau, 2014), ‘Bloch and Wagner’ in Ernest Bloch Studies (CUP, 2016) and ‘Ancient Symbols, Modern Meanings: The Use of the Shofar in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Music’ in Qol Tamid: The Shofar in Ritual, History, and Culture (Claremont Press, 2017.).