Shir Ami to share Jewish musical heritage Sunday

Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Jason Calloway

The DePauw Performing Arts Series will present Shir Ami in concert on at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Thompson Recital Hall in the Green Center for the Performing Arts.

Shir Ami is an ensemble of musicians whose collective mission is to recover and rejuvenate the rich musical heritage created by Jewish people during the 20th century. While the ensemble's repertoire includes both art and popular music, all the pieces share a common history of having been silenced, suppressed or neglected due to prejudice toward the composers of the music.

For this special concert at DePauw, Shir Ami members Jason and Rachel Calloway will be joined on the piano by DePauw associate professor of Music, May Phang; Jason Calloway, the artistic director of Shir Ami, a world-class cellist; and brother of mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway.

The Calloways are both graduates of The Juilliard School and have been featured as soloists and chamber players in various prestigious ensembles performing throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

Rachel Calloway

For the Sept. 26 concert the Calloways and Professor Phang will present instrumental and vocal works by such well-known Jewish classical composers as Viktor Ullmann, Ernest Bloch, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Schreker and Leo Zeitlin, as well as some of the cabaret songs of Friedrich Hollaender.

Preceding the concert, Jason and Rachel Calloway will give a talk at 6:15 p.m. in Thompson Recital Hall on the subject of the history and character of the music they perform.

Jewish Studies at DePauw will host a reception following the concert. All of the events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Ron Dye at rdye@depauw.edu or by phone at 658-4689.

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