I fainted a few weeks ago. Actually swooned at a crowded opening of an art installation. I’d like to think it had something to do with the show itself – a brilliant flight of fancy and history revolving around the Golem legend by Matt Freedman. The following day, I got reviews of my ‘performance’ from [ Read More ]
My father’s yahrzeit by the Jewish calendar. So with last night’s moonrise, a candle is lit. And yet, the date had been late February – weeks ago and a day that smacked of mid-winter and specific associations, nothing like early spring. The disconnect is palpable to me. Which rings truer? Having been raised with a [ Read More ]
It’s a leap year; I find myself mentally leapfrogging between last year’s events and this year’s as if they were occurring linearly. Driving through snow tunnels last year juxtaposes with the sprouting crocuses I spied this week. A blueberry bread pudding as the chosen recipe to warm the spirits has supplanted last year’s lasagna, and [ Read More ]
Ullmann – Minuet/Totentanz, Jeanne Golan pianist Ullmann originally meant this music for Sonata No. 5, the first piece he composed after being interned at Terezin. Instead, he pulled it and later orchestrated it for the Totentanz, the Dance of Death that accompanies an overworked Death as he walks off the job in protest in the [ Read More ]
Actors, musicians, photographers, writers, my apartment building is full of artists of all kinds. So I was particularly delighted when my upstairs neighbor shot me an email last week inviting me to see him in his new role – Hannibal Lecter! A musical parody of the movie Silence of the Lambs was heading into an [ Read More ]
Finding my equilibrium after the Yom Kippur weekend, a natural time to take stock of things. During the Yiskor service, looked up and saw a plaque for a Maurice Ulman. Different spelling, no relation, I’m sure, but got me thinking about the various places I’ve brought my Ullmann’s music to in recent months. Ravinia was [ Read More ]
Sunday, wish it didn’t come on a Sunday. As the culture is consumed with remembering, I am home with coffee in hand looking through artworks and photos that were created in Terezin by interned artists and children. There’s been a lot of air traffic up and down the Hudson River as this is a high [ Read More ]
Ravinia soon – have been thinking about the notion of preserving something from the past and it’s relevance in today’s world in relation to playing Ullmann. For the “Breaking the Silence” program, I’m thrilled to be sharing it with the ARC Ensemble and can’t wait to hear them. In preparation, have been pulling my concert [ Read More ]
Ullmann was taken with Goethe’s saying, “Live in the moment, live in eternity.” New York has an event sponsored by Sing for Hope called “Pop-up Pianos”. 88 pianos, each individually decorated by local artists and placed in public spaces in the five boroughs. Have been practicing the 6th and 7th sonatas that I’m performing at [ Read More ]
Have spent this summer afternoon settled on a bench in Riverside Park, a block from my apartment, studying the scores. Checking the occasional unusual marking with a German dictionary, reading through the foreword by Conrad Richter. Came across mention of the Anthroposophist movement that Ullmann became active with in the early 1930’s. He even gave [ Read More ]