September 19, 2000 Shostakovich, Dvorák and Israeli composer Paul Ben Haim in Santa Barbara debut at UCSB Summary Facts:
For its Santa Barbara debut concert, the Jerusalem Trio will perform a compelling program of music for piano, violin and cello on Thursday, October 26 at 8 p.m. in UCSB Campbell Hall. The concert will feature Israeli composer Paul Ben Haim’s tuneful Variations on a Hebrew Melody; Dvorak’s Piano Trio in E Minor, Op. 90, “Dumky”; and the Trio’s signature work, the urgent and haunting Shostakovich Piano Trio Op. 67, No. 2, “Tribute to Babi Yar.” One of Israel’s most important composers, Paul Ben Haim lived from 1897 to 1984. His Variations on a Hebrew Melody was composed in 1939, nine years before the formation of the Israeli state. The Hebrew melody of the title is considered to be of Bedouin origin; it reflects tunes that were integral to the tradition of nomadic Arab peoples. Dvorák’s “Dumky” Trio, written when the composer was 50 years old and living in Prague, is named after a type of Slavic folk dance with sudden changes of mood, indicated by contrasts of tempo, mode and rhythm. The three-movement Shostakovich Trio No. 2, written in 1944, is widely recognized as the composer’s outspoken protest against anti-Semitism, both on the part of Nazi Germany during World War II and the Soviet Union during the Stalinist purges of the 1930s. The work was banned in the Soviet Union from 1948 until after Stalin’s death in 1953. The Babi Yar of the title is a ravine outside Kiev that became a mass grave for an estimated 70,000 Ukrainian Jews executed by the Nazis between 1941 and 1944. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls the work “a brilliant, harrowing piece, charged with grief and anger and a savage humor.” The Shostakovich piece has become the Jerusalem Trio’s signature work for the assurance, mastery and passion with which they perform it. It is featured on their second, new CD along with a work by Ravel, recently released on the JMC label. The trio’s lauded first recording, a series of Brahms trios on the Canadian label DOREMI, was hailed by Fanfare Magazine for “intensely emotional readings (in which) youthful zest and virtuosity abound.” Founded in Israel in 1989 under the auspices of the Jerusalem Music Centre, a meeting point for visiting international masters and talented young Israeli musicians, the Jerusalem Trio artists were prize winners at the 1995 Melbourne International Competition and more recently cemented their position as a leading chamber ensemble of international caliber when they won first prize at the 1999 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. Though the trio has maintained for ten years a rigorous international touring schedule that has brought them favorable, widespread recognition in Europe, Asia and Australia, it is only recently enjoying similar acknowledgment in the United States. Pianist Yaron Rosenthal is a prize winner of the Young Artists Competition in Jerusalem and has received the Gina Bachauer Award, the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center and Italian Government Award for the Arts. Violinist Roi Shiloah first appeared with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at age 12 and won first prize at the Francois Shapira in Israel in 1992. Cellist Ariel Tushinsky, a former student of Bernard Greenhouse and Aldo Parissot at Yale University, won the Clairmint competition in Israel. Each of the artists has performed as soloist with major international orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Zubin Mehta. As part of their residency at UCSB, the members of the Jerusalem Trio will conduct a master class and demonstration with members of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony on Wednesday, October 26 at 3:30 p.m. at Congregation B’Nai Brith at 1000 San Antonio Creek Road. The event is free and open to public observation. This event is part of UCSB Arts & Lectures’ ongoing commitment to arts education that involves extensive collaboration between Arts & Lectures and community and campus organizations. The members of the Jerusalem Trio will also address UCSB music appreciation students during their stay on campus. Presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, this residency is sponsored by KDB Radio, the Best Western South Coast Inn, the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Symposia in Jewish Studies and Congregation B’Nai B’rith. For tickets or more information, Editor: For photos, please call |