The Jewish music of David Ezra Okonsar
Alex Klein with David Ezra Okonsar
David Ezra (prev. Mehmet) Okonsar, pianist, composer, conductor and musicologist is the First Prize Winner at the International Young Virtuosos Competition, Antwerp, Belgium, 1982 and laureate of other prestigious international piano competitions such as the Gina Bachauer, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1991 and J. S. Bach, Paris, France 1989.
A copy of Boulez’s Third Piano Sonata, found at the library of the Ankara State Conservatory paved the way for his composing track. The French Cultural Centre of Ankara with the comprehensive mediatheque it then possessed, provided Okonsar with overwhelming listening opportunities. Edgar Varese, Pierre Schaeffer, Iannis Xenakis and Olivier Messiaen shaped the musical sensibility of the young Okonsar.
After completing piano studies, he was trained at the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music with one of Belgium’s foremost composers of our time: Madame Jacqueline Fontyn. He has also been coached by Paris Conservatory’s famous analysis teacher: Claude Ballif.
The works of Okonsar were, right from the beginning, fearlessly exploring unusual forms and ensembles. During the eigthties atonal Jazz and similar contemporary idioms found in the music of Cecil Taylor, Bill Evans have been an additional influence to the ever-present extended serialism in the work of Okonsar . Other major extra-serialistic influences who shaped the music of Okonsar are K. Penderecki, I. Xenakis and G. Ligeti.
The music of Okonsar is highly structured and it is simultaneously inviting and challenging analytical approach. This complex structural inner-core is presented in the score with a detailed, precise, intricate and refined musical writing.
David Ezra Okonsar is recipient of the Gold Medal at the “Academie Internationale des Arts Contemporains” of Enghien, Belgium for his compositions.
Alex Klein was born in London. He has been passionate about Jewish music, especially chazzanut all his life. As a youth he took services in Finchley Synagogue and studied at Jews College. He settled in Manchester where he brought significant Jewish artists and cantors for concerts to the UK. He worked with Geraldine Auerbach, Director of the Jewish Music Institute, as head of its Synagogue Music Section. Together they created the European Cantors Association in 2012 which runs Cantors Conventions in European and British cities and other programmes.