For the time being, my musical work focuses on classical composition for chamber ensembles and symphony orchestras, coupled with some playful experimentation in the dual role of composer-librettist for opera.
Previews of items from my portfolio are available by request to individuals and ensembles who might wish to produce and perform a musical or operatic work. Descriptions of available works follow below.
instrumental
sguya – A scalable work for at least one instrument with an approximate performance time of eighteen minutes. Parts available for all standard strings including harp, percussion, timpani, woodwinds including piccolo, brass including trombone and tuba, and keys.
sotah – A symphonic work for standard orchestral instrumentation, with the addition of harp and offstage choir of high voices. Performance time of approximately fifty minutes arranged in four movements. Vocal part written in Hebrew and Aramaic.
operatic
Release – A minimalist opera in one scene. Approximate performance time of ten minutes. Required singers: one mezzo. Optional singers: one baritone. Instrumentation: viola and mallet percussion. English and Hebrew.
Focused on a strange and somewhat uncommon practice situated in Jewish religious life, Release shows a mundane moment transformed into an act of cosmic consequence through the protagonist’s engagement with halacha.
Baruch – A chamber opera in two acts. Approximate performance time of one hour. Required singers: one baritone, one tenor, one soprano, with options for the soprano part to be pre-recorded or for multiple tenors. Instrumentation: viola, cello, flute, clarinet, and percussion. Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic.
Following the unfortunate adventures of the historic Baruch ben Samuel, an emissary sent from the community of Tzfat to reconnect with rumored lost tribes, Baruch explores the human capacity for hope and the desire for connection in a world besieged by turmoil, desolation, and distrust.
WISDOM: or, The Wives of Solomon – An opera of grand forces in three acts. Approximate performance time of two hours. Several modular points that can be adjusted or omitted; one sung part that can be converted to a speaking part; additional soloist lines can be pulled from ensemble portions. Suggested casting requires at least four mezzos, one who can be substituted with a particularly dark soprano, as well as two sopranos, two contraltos, a tenor, a countertenor, a choir of high voices, a choir of low voices, and two unvoiced mimes (one should be a dancer). Instrumentation for Western orchestra with several ethnic virtuoso instruments; fully Western transcriptions are available in the event that an appropriate soloist or the correct instrument cannot be sourced for the production. Hebrew, Finnish, Aramaic, and three indigenous languages (two of which are for modular characters whose parts can be translated and adapted to represent alternative indigenous peoples).
Famously, the Bible claims that King Solomon had 700 Wives, many thought to have been noblewomen from around the planet, brought to Jerusalem to wed in pursuit of peace and power for their people. WISDOM enters into the world of some of these women, as they study in the beit midrash of Serach bat Asher, where they grapple, parallel to Solomon, with the question of how to build the Temple without hewn stone.