Timeless Symphonic and Operatic Discoveries

We invite you to join us as we end a year of successful programming on a high note with a wonderful musical celebration. We will enjoy a sampling of the prolific works of Arnold Saltzman, composer of opera, symphonies, and ballet.

We will take a melodic journey to the Alba Music Festival, with the festival’s co-director Maestro Dr. Jeffrey Silberschlag. Saltzman’s 4th Symphony, ‘A Choral Symphony: Halevi’ successfully premiered at this extraordinary event, featuring the seven last poems of Yehuda Halevi.

We will also hear excerpts from the world premiere of the operatic recount of the story of Solomon Schechter and the discovery in Cairo’s Geniza. The opera weaves a story of discovery at the Ben Ezra Synagogue attic which contained one thousand years of history in the form of rare Hebrew religious manuscripts with a 12th century story of lost love.

During this symphonic escape, these two iconic musical virtuosos will share:
What inspired the writing of an opera about Cairo Geniza;
The challenges of bringing someone else’s vision to life with music;
The approach needed to convey the preeminence and historical significance of a figure like Halevi; and
The creative process for operatic and symphonic works.