Bracha
The Music of Meira Warshauer
Spring/Summer 2003
Volume I, Number I
Spring/Summer 2003
Volume I, Number I
Welcome to the first issue of Bracha. What does this word mean? Well, three things, really. Firstly, it’s Hebrew for blessing, secondly, it also means a downward flowing stream and suggests the flow of Divine goodness into the world and finally, it’s the name of a beautiful piece by Meira Warshauer for violin and piano.
Now, a bit about Meira Warshauer. Her compositions have been performed and recorded to critical acclaim throughout the United States and in Israel, Europe, and Asia. A graduate of Harvard, New England Conservatory of Music, and the University of South Carolina, Dr. Warshauer studied composition with Mario Davidovsky, Jacob Druckman, William Thomas McKinley, and Gordon Goodwin. She has received numerous awards from ASCAP as well as the America Music Center, Meet the Composer, and the South Carolina Arts Commission. In 2000, she received the first Art and Cultural Achievement Award from the Jewish Historical Society of S. Carolina.
Meira Warshauer is an Associate Music Faculty member at Columbia College, Columbia, SC. Her innovative course, "The Healing Art of Music," is a cross-cultural, multidisciplinary approach to the experience of music as a source of healing.
Her CDs include the soundtrack to the documentary Land of Promise: The Jews of South Carolina and "Spirals of Light", chamber music and poetry (by Ani Tuzman) on themes of enlightenment, on the Kol Meira label and available online from http://www.horizonrecords.net and "Revelation" for orchestra, included on Robert Black Conducts, MMC, available from http://www.amazon.com.
Her music is published by Oxford University Press (http://www.oup-usa.org/music/), MMB (http://www.mmbmusic.com/), and Transcontinental (http://www.etranscon.com/).
You can find much more about her at www.meirawarshauer.com / .
Meira Warshauer has created the score for the documentary video Land of Promise: The Jews of South Carolina, commissioned by the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina and broadcast on SC Educational Television in Fall, 2002. It will be shown as part of the Jewish Film Festival of the Nickelodeon Theatre, Columbia, South Carolina in April, 2003, and at Yeshiva University Museum in New York City, throughout Spring, 2003.
Violinist Daniel Heifetz and the Classical Band will perform "Bracha", for violin and piano; "Songs from the Holocaust" for soprano (with Carmen Balthrop), violin, and piano; and "Yiddish Fantasy" in concert April 6, 2003 at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland. They had previously performed Meira Warshauer's "Yiddish Fantasy" throughout the United States in over 20 venues during 2001-2002.
"In Memoriam September 11" for solo cello and string orchestra was premiered at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, by the King David Strings (members of the Jerusalem Symphony) and Ina Esther Joost, cellist in February, 2003. The solo cello version of the work, performed by Robert Jesselson, may be heard online at "September 11 Musical Gallery," http://www.kalvos.org.
"Like Streams in the Desert", commissioned by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Neal Gittleman, conductor, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Columbus, in honor of Israel's 50th anniversary has been scheduled for Fall, 2003, at Clemson University, Andrew Levin, conductor. The work has previously been performed by the Wilmington (NC) Symphony, Western Piedmont (NC) Symphony, South Shore (MI) Symphony, Los Angeles Jewish Symphony in concert (Royce Hall) and in Sephardic Education concerts.
2003 will bring a very important CD release of Meira Warshauer’s "YES!" for clarinet and orchestra, written for and recorded by Richard Stoltzman and the Warsaw Philharmonic. The piece is scheduled for release in 2003 on MMC.
"(Revelation) is a brilliant work, and in and of itself, a compelling reason for acquiring this disc." - Fanfare review of Robert Black Conducts, MMC 2008
"(Spirals of Light is) a rare gem -a work of fine art both contemporary and sacred." - The Morning Star, Wilmington, NC.
"Shacharit, a masterpiece of form and content, effectively captured a sense of the spirituality of the Jewish people." - The State, Columbia, SC
For more information about Meira Warshauer, including a complete catalog of her works, visit her website at www.meirawarshauer.com / .
For any other information about the music of Meira Warshauer, please contact Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 or jamesarts@worldnet.att.net.
