Kaufman Music Center – Music Speaks: Crossing Borders – Jamal Aliyev, cello; Dominic Cheli, piano

ERNEST BLOCH – From Jewish Life (1925)
FAZIL SAY – 4 Cities Cello Sonata (2012)
ERNEST BLOCH – Nigun (Improvisation from Baal Shem) (1923)
L.D. MALASHKIN – Romance ‘I met you’
ERNEST BLOCH – Méditation hébraïque (1924)
FAZIL SAY – Song Yiğidim Aslanım (My Brave, My Lion)

The ideas of east meeting west, Islamic to Jewish cultures, being adopted by different cultures yet still drawing on family home and roots, come into focus in this program. Turkish cellist Jamal Aliyev brings his own heritage of Azerbaijan and Turkey alongside his UK/central European training to bare on a musical exploration of Said’s powerful concept of intimacy and distance. Ernest Bloch epitomized the cultural musical heart of Jewish character in his character pieces, written as he himself experienced uprooting his Swiss roots to emigrate to California, yet found a way of remaining connected to his family’s deep cultural heritage. A century later, incredible Turkish pianist and composer Fazil Say, also connects his musical expression to his Turkish roots and origins, bringing an intimate relationship with his home country to very distant audiences. At the simple heart of the program, one of Jamal’s personal favorites that expresses the idea of connection that transcends borders, Malashkin’s Romance “I met you”