Blogcritics
By Jon Sobel
The organizers of the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts could hardly have asked for a nicer evening for The Knights and violinist Lara St. John to present the New York Premiere of Avner Dorman’s Nigunim. The darkening sky turned rose-red and aqua blue as the audience heard a spectacular performance of the virtuosic concerto and an invigorating reading of Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 (“Scottish”).
Around the World in Four Movements
The meat of the program commenced when Lara St. John stepped in front of the white-clad orchestra. Nigunim is a violin concerto rooted in melodies inspired by Jewish songs from around the world. The piece won the Azrieli Prize in 2018. In a recent interview with Blogcritics the composer told us that in writing it he created new melodies inspired by “listening to music from Jewish communities around the world, recalling music I had heard from different diasporas, and internalizing the styles and gestures. I also analyzed these melodies and found some surprising commonalities.”
Read more here.
Photo: Oren Hope Media
