Get Cozy with the PSO with 'Hebraic Rhapsody' on Oct. 16

PORTSMOUTH, NH — Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra’s Get Cozy with the PSO’s Chamber Music Series continues Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, with “Hebraic Rhapsody” at the Kittery Dance Hall, according to a press statement. The performance starts at 3 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door.

Featuring Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra Principal Clarinetist John Ferraro; bass-baritone, David Ripley; tenor, David Hirsch; violinists Ryan Shannon and Hannah Reitz; violist Jessica Valentino; and cellist Dorothy Braker, cello, “Hebraic Rhapsody” celebrates Judaism with a selection of music inspired by the High Holy Days.

Building on a monumental chamber piece for klezmer clarinet and string quartet by Osvaldo Golijov called The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, the program will include beautiful chamber works by Hans Krasa and Gideon Klein, who were both murdered at Auschwitz, and Yiddish pieces by Lazar Weiner, known as "the Jewish Schubert." Audiences will also hear an as-yet unpublished string quartet by Vally Weigl, who fled Austria in 1938, a work by Jewish composer Meira Warshauer commemorating 9/11, and Kol Nidreicomposed by Max Bruch, written to evoke the Aramaic Prayer sung at the opening of the Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, services.

“This performance is as much a story of the beauty and artistry of the Jewish culture as it is a tribute and a celebration of the High Holy Days,” notes Virginia Macdonald, Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra Executive Director. “I have no doubt this concert will be long remembered.”

Get Cozy with the PSO chamber music concerts occur monthly and will continue November 20 with Quintessence wind quintet. To view the complete schedule or to purchase tickets, visit portsmouthsymphony.org.

Credit: Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra Principal Clarinetist John Ferraro.

Submitted by Ginna Macdonald.