LABA to Present New Strings Attached with Nadav Lev, Mivos Quartet, Re'ut Ben-Ze'ev and More, 6/30

Multi-faceted guitar virtuoso and 2013-14 LABA fellow Nadav Lev brings forth a diverse selection of pieces for guitar and various ensembles, all written for him by some of the most prominent young composers to emerge from Israel.

The program includes Shomeret Layla, Lev's new original piece recently composed as part of his 2013-14 LABA fellowship at the 14 St. Y, as well as the world premiere of Yair Klartag's Nothing To Express for electric guitar quintet with Mivos Quartet.

Other highlights include Guy Barash's TalkBack III for guitar and electronics, Ronnie Reshef's Four Bialik Children Songs, Gilad Cohen's Rushing Camel and Yonatan Canaan's Hours of Fun. This very special evening will also serve as a preview of Nadav's upcoming album, New Strings Attached, to be released by Delos this winter.

Nadav will be joined by a spectacular group of collaborators, including the Mivos Quartet, singers Re'ut Ben-Ze'ev and Lianne Aharony, sound artist-composer Guy Barash and new media interdisciplinary artists Omer & Tal Golan. This concert will take place at the 14th Street Y Theater on Monday, June 30th at 8pm.

About LABA: LABA is a non-religious house of study and culture laboratory at the 14th St. Y. Through the program, artist fellows partake in a yearlong study of Jewish texts and incorporate these ancient ideas into their contemporary work.

The concert will take place at the 14th Street Y Theater, 344 East 14th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues), New York, NY 10003. Call (212) 780-0800 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/696006. Tickets: $15. Subway: L to 1st Avenue or 3rd Avenue; 4/5/6/L/N/Q/R to 14th Street.

On the Program:

Nadav Lev / Shomeret Layla, for electric guitar, female vocalist and live electronics

Yair Klartag / Nothing To Express, for electric guitar and string quartet

Guy Barash / TalkBack III, for classical guitar and live electronics

Ronnie Reshef / Four Bialik Children Songs, for guitar and mezzo soprano

Gilad Cohen / The Rushing Camel, for classical guitar

Yonatan Canaan / Hours of Fun, for electric guitar

BIOS:

Nadav Lev, Guitarist/Composer: Guitarist and composer Nadav Lev is an exceptional virtuoso on both classical and electric guitar. His proficiency with through-composed as well as improvised music, and his inspired, profound performances of the music of our time have made him one of today's most captivating new performers. An Andres Segovia Award winner (Musica en Compstela, Spain), Lev's Carnegie Hall debut was hailed by Classical Guitar Magazine as "sensitive and nuanced performance......a talented and engagingly musical performer.....his stage presence is entirely gracious and personable." Classical Guitar described Nadav's debut album as "a CD to savour and delight in. His playing is of the utmost authority and the entire program is a sheer delight from start to finish."

An Israeli native based in NYC, Nadav was the only guitarist to recently win the America-Israel Cultural Foundation's prestigious Abroad Studies award, and among other prizes he won are the "Ra'anana Guitar Competition" first prize, the "Jerusalem Guitar Competition" Rodrigo Prize, Artists International's Special Presentation Award and the Lillian Fuchs Award.

Mr. Lev has been performing throughout the US, Europe, Israel and South America, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Rose Hall in Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall and Le Poisson Rouge in New York, the Centro Cultural Espanol in Miami and Iglesia De Sampaio De Antealtares in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. He was invited to give recitals in prestigious concert series such as the John Marlow Guitar series in Washington D.C. and performed with groups such as the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Le Zion and the Israel Kibbutz Orchestra.

Lev's new album, which will be released this winter by Delos, will be dedicated to music written for him by some of Israel's most prominent young composers, with renowned collaborators such as mezzo Rinat Shaham, violinist Miranda Cuckson and the Mivos Quartet. Lev's duo with virtuoso double bassist Remy Yulzari will release its debut album this summer with the French IEMJ label, featuring guest artists Frank London and John Hadfield.

Among Lev's recent collaborations are mezzo soprano Rinat Shaham, mandolin player Avi Avital, harpist Sivan Magen, bandoneon master Raul Jaurena (Piazzolla's double concerto), composer/sound artist Guy Barash and mezzo Re'ut Ben-Ze'ev. Upcoming engagements include summer tours in France and Canada (Lev-Yulzari duo) and collaboration with ICE at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Lincoln Center.

Lev is a 2013-14 LABA fellow at NYC's 14th Street Y, for which he has been writing his new composition Shomeret Layla ("the Night Watcher"), exploring his childhood experiences in an Israeli Kibbutz. His original compositions for various ensembles and for theater have been performed in the US and Israel, including the International Asian Music Festival at the YMCA Jerusalem hall.

Mr. Lev's numerous media appearances include a special program dedicated to him by NYC's WKCR radio station and an appearance on NY TV channel and WQXR; His playing was also featured on Galatz radio station, Israeli Educational Television Channel, and he can be frequently heard on Kol Ha'musika - the
Israeli classical channel. Lev graduated with honors the Master of Music program at the Manhattan
School of Music, under the guidance of David Starobin and David Leisner. He earned his bachelor degree Cum Laude from the Rubin Academy in Tel-Aviv, where he studied Composition with Ruben Seroussi and Itzhak Sadai. He also holds B.A in Philosophy from the Tel- Aviv University.

Nadav Lev was born in kibbutz Nachshon, Israel, and began playing jazz guitar at the age of nine. After graduating with honors from the Jazz Department at the "Thelma Yelin" High School for the Arts, he went on to join Israel's Air Force Orchestra as a guitarist. He then turned to classical music, and began studying classical guitar and composition with Ruben Seroussi.

Lev's many years of engagement with Jazz, Rock and a wide range of other musical as well as intellectual interests allowed him to bring to classical and contemporary music an expressive, knowledgeable, edgy and utterly personal voice.

Re'ut Ben-Ze'ev, Mezzo-soprano: Mezzo-soprano Re'ut Ben-Ze'ev has won critical acclaim for her "intense expression and pure voice" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, with) and "bold, committed account...so deeply physical was her performance..." (The New York Times)

Re'ut majored in Theater at the Thelma Yelin High school of Performing Arts, Tel Aviv, where she also toured as the vocal soloist of its Big Band. After moving to NYC and studying the Strasberg "Method" with Terese Hayden she decided to pursue a classical singing career. Her operatic roles include Anna (DIE SIEBEN TODSÜNDEN/Weill), Donna Elvira in Mozart's DON GIOVANNI, Paride in PARIDE ED ELENA/Gluck, Komponist (ARIADNE AUF NAXOS).

On the concert platform, Re'ut has performed in venues such as Lincoln Center, Spoleto Festival, USA, Jerusalem Music Centre, The American Academy in Berlin, Bayreuth Museum of Art, the Tel-Aviv Museum of Art, for WQXR radio, Kol Hamusika, and on the PBS Website.

As a passionate champion of new music, Re'ut has performed and premiered many important new works by composers such as Pulitzer Prize winning composer David Del Tredici, Samuel Adler and Dalit Warshaw, in addition to recording with John Musto and Yehudi Wyner for Naxos, Albany Records, Furious Artisans and YIVO label. She has collaborated with players of the Israel and Berlin Philharmonic, ensembles such as the Israel Contemporary Players (PIERROT LUNAIRE), Cygnus Ensemble, the actor Theodore Bikel and choreographer Yasmeen Godder (Ensemble nominated for the Bessie Award.)

In 2013/14 season, she will make her debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of David Del Tredici's Dum Dee Tweedle under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. She will also be performing Samuel Adler's NUPTIAL SCENE at Juilliard for his 85th Birthday celebration concert, premiering guitarist and composer Nadav Lev's NIGHT WATCHER for LABA (NYC) as well as recording it for Delos Label, and recording highlights from Joseph Caldwell and Steven Burke's new opera THE JUGGLER. Highlights of upcoming projects include recording Rachmaninoff songs for Arabesque Records, touring Matthew Greenbaum's video-opera ROPE&CHASM as well as collaborating with Momenta String Quartet, the Alexander Trio (Israel).

Her standard concert repertoire ranges from Haydn's ARIANNA A NAXOS to Mozart's REQUIEM to Schoenberg's Op.2 (orchestrated for Re'ut by Gil Shohat), performed with St. Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra, The Israel Chamber Orchestra and others. Re'ut lives in NYC and studies with Gerald Martin Moore.

Lianne Aharony, Soprano: Born in Israel, Lianne Aharony received her B.M from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Ms. Aharony has sung with orchestras such as The Israeli philharmonic orchestra, The Israeli Symphony Orchestra and the Baroque Orchestra of Jerusalem under the baton of Zubin Mehta, David Shemer, Ronen Borshevsky, Stanly Sperber and others.

Possessing a talent and career unique in their diversity, Lianne has sung in concert halls in Japan, Portugal, Russia, Italy, Turkey, and in world-acclaimed venues such as the Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln center, the Weill Recital hall of Carnegie Hall, the Wembley Stadium in London and The Culture Palace of Tel Aviv.

Her concert work portfolio includes performances as the soprano soloist in Bach's Magnificat and Mendelssohn's 42nd psalm with the Haifa Symphony orchestra, The Angel in Scarlatti's Agar et Ismaele with the Jerusalem Baroque orchestra and a soprano soloist in Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with The Symphonette Raanana. Her recent performances include the role of Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Manhattan Opera Studio, Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto with the New York Lyric Opera Theater and Oscar in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera with Vocal Productions. Her operatic repertoire also includes Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, La Fée in Massenet's Cendrillon, Sister Genovieffa in Puccini's Suor Angelica, and The Shepard boy in Puccini's Tosca.

As an active performer of contemporary music, she presented the world premiere of Svetova's Concerto and joined the operatic production of Israel Sharon's Bald Soprano. She has been awarded scholarships by the Ronen Foundation of America, the AICF Foundation, the Buchman-Heiman Foundation and the Israeli Vocal Arts Institute.

Mivos Quartet: The Mivos Quartet, an "accomplished, admirably broad-minded young string quartet" (New York Times), is devoted to performing the works of contemporary composers, presenting new music to diverse audiences. Since the quartet's beginnings in 2008 they have performed, commissioned and closely collaborated with an ever-expanding group of international composers who represent multiple aesthetics of contemporary classical composition. The quartet's international performing schedule has included appearances at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music (Darmstadt, Germany), Asphalt Festival (Düsseldorf, Germany), Concerti Aperitivo (Udine, Italy), HellHOT! New Music Festival (Hong Kong), Edgefest (Ann Arbor, MI), and Aldeburgh Music (UK). Beyond expanding the string quartet repertoire, Mivos is committed to working with guest artists, collaborating on multi-media projects, exploring group improvisation, and supporting young musicians through educational activities. Mivos' forthcoming album (Spring 2013) on Carrier Records will feature works by Alex Mincek, David Franzson, Felipe Lara, and Wolfgang Rihm.

The members of Mivos are: violinists Olivia De Prato and Joshua Modney, violist Victor Lowrie, and cellist Mariel Roberts, each of whom are recognized individually as extraordinary voices in contemporary music, and perform frequently with leading new music ensembles including Ensemble Signal, Victoire, and Wet Ink. They are all graduates of the Master's in Contemporary Performance degree program at the Manhattan School of Music.
www.mivosquartet.com

OMTA: Tal & Omer Golan, Media Artists: OMTA are Tal (1981) & Omer Golan (1980), international media artists who have worked together for over a decade. OMTA are associate members of Leonardo/the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST).

Coming from painting and visual arts background, they currently working at the intersection of art, science, technology and culture.

They are presently living in NYC and are immersed in generating multiple forms of conceptual digital arts, while exploring innovative and transformative ideas in art, performance, technology and society.

Yair Klartag, Composer: Yair Klartag was born in 1985 in Israel. He began studying Piano at the age of 12 and commenced his composition studies at the age of 15. He received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and in Composition under the instruction of Ruben Seroussi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Tel-Aviv University, graduating in 2010. He continued his composition studies, obtaining his Master's degree in 2012 at the Basel Musikhochschule with Georg Friedrich Haas and Erik Oña. At present he is a doctoral candidate in composition at Columbia University.

His compositions have been performed by ensembles such as Munich Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Sinfonietta, Ensemble Phoenix Basel, Ensemble Proton Bern, Ensemble Zafraan (Berlin), "Meitar" ensmble (Israel) received several awards such as 31st Irino Prize (Japan), 1st place at the "I International Composition Competition Ireneu Segarra" (Spain), 2nd place at "7ème Concours Dutilleux" (France) and Audience Prize at "Isang Yun Composition Competition".

Guy Barash, Composer: Guy Barash is a composer of contemporary music. His opus includes orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electroacoustic compositions, as well as music for theater. He has written an extensive body of work that incorporates text in various settings and arrangements. In his music, Barash generates a multi-metric environment where he explores concepts of time such as simultaneity, synchronicity, and geometricity. Barash often uses computer processing to exploit latent characteristics of acoustic instruments and alter the relationship between foreground and background. He collaborates with a wide array of artists (poets, video-artists, musicians and choreographers) on innovative, multidisciplinary projects.

Mr. Barash's work for lyric theater includes the opera Alice Invents a Little Game and Alice Always Wins, currently in workshop and development as part of his fellowship in the American Opera Projects Composers & the Voice program. His multimedia theater piece Hildegard (Vision Cycle), conceived of in concert with the Pioneers Go East Collective was presented in 2013 at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club.

In 2010 Barash founded Eavesdropping, a new music series at The Tank. Since 2013 Eavesdropping is hosted by Spectrum.

Ronnie Reshef, Composer: Ronnie Reshef's music has been described by the press as "Vivid, elegant... ...smart, and gorgeous" (Houston Chronicle). Reshef's work spans from classical music to Off-Broadway musicals, concentrating on works for the theater. Her first opera Requiem for the Living was performed in New York city, Kentucky, and Texas, where it was a finalist in 2011 Opera Vista competition (TX). Her musical Conspiracy! had an Off-Broadway run at MITF (NYC), where it was nominated for best music and lyrics, among four other nominations. Most recently, her second opera Something to Live For was chosen by Boston Metro Opera (MA)

for a full production, and by Fort Worth Opera's (TX) for their 2014 Frontiers festival. Recent highlights include a staged performance of Reshef's experimental opera Ambiguous Kafka (produced and presented by Manhattan School of Music) and a full run of her musical Conspiracy! in New York Midtown Theatre Festival; upcoming projects include a commission from Qube Quartet (April 2014, OH), a revival for Reshef's 2009 opera Requiem for the Living (Thompson Street Opera, KY), and a new opera Something to Live For (Fort Worth Opera's 2014 Frontiers festival, TX; Boston Metro Opera, MA).

Recent fellowships and workshops include American Opera Projects' 2011-2012 Composer and the Voice program, BMI's Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, and a residency in Yaddo. A doctoral candidate at Manhattan School of Music's composition program, where she studies with Richard Danielpour and teaches undergraduate and graduate classes, Ronnie is the winner of competitions and awards such as the Jordan Berk Prize, Atlanta Opera 24 Hour Opera Competition, and Boston Metro Opera Composers' Competition, as well as the Sam Spiegel Excellence Prize for film scoring and the Israeli Shirimon Arrangement Prize. Born in Israel, Ronnie now resides in New York with her husband and son. www.RonnieReshef.com

Gilad Cohen, Composer: Praised by the 2010 Israeli Prime Minister Award Committee for "creating a personal language fusion that has a unique dimension" in music that is "fascinating, vibrant and drawing the ear as well as the heart", Israeli musician Gilad Cohen is an active composer, performer, and theorist in different musical genres including concert music, rock, and music for theatre. Currently in his last year as a Ph.D. Candidate in Composition at Princeton University, Gilad will be joining the faculty of Ramapo College of New Jersey in the fall of 2014 as an Assistant Professor of Music. Gilad's music was performed at venues in the US, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Israel including Merkin Hall, Morgan Library & Museum, Bargemusic (NYC), the Beijing Modern Music Festival, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (Vienna), The Royal Conservatory of the Hague, Kolarac Hall (Belgrade), and the Jerusalem Theatre (Israel). Recent awards include the Israeli Prime Minister Award for Composers and the Whiting Fellowship in Humanities, as well as the top prizes in composition competitions in China, Austria, Turkey, and the US. A member of the Advanced Class at the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, Gilad is also active as a music director and performer, playing piano, bass, and guitar. Recently Gilad produced the first-ever academic conference devoted to Pink Floyd at Princeton University together with composer Dave Molk, and his article about large-scale structure in the band's music will be published in the summer by Resling Publishing House (Tel-Aviv). www.giladcohen.com

Yonatan Canaan, Composer: Tel-Aviv based Composer and songwriter Yonatan Canaan is composing an array of different music from concert music, music theatre works and operas to pop songs and rock albums.

Yonatan is the recipient of the Israeli Lottery Council for Arts and Culture 2013 Grant for his upcoming Opera "Greta and the Space Race" based on a short story by Valeria Zabilotsky.

He composed the music and songs for "Shirim Be'Ashdodit" (Songs in Ashdodian) - a musical theatre show based on the poems of Sami Shalom Shetrit, dealing with the difficult daily life of jewish Morrocons who immigrated to Israel in the 1960's. The show toured widely in Israel and abroad and performed in the Israeli National Theatre (Habima) and in several distinguished festivals such as "Meditterane"(Ashdod) and "LIMMUD"(U.K). The show received the Rabinovich Foundation Grant.

Yonatan is the winner of the 2013 ACUM Prize for his chamber music piece "Tracks of Light" and a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships.

Photo Credit: Joanna Williams