Israeli Guitarist Nadav Lev Releases Album, NEW STRINGS ATTACHED, Today

Hailed as an exceptional virtuoso on both classical and electric guitar, Nadav Lev reveals the rich diversity of sound and style in contemporary guitar music on his latest album, New Strings Attached. From solo to chamber, from through-composed to improvised, and with a definitive guitar repertoire alongside new music written especially for Lev by Israel's most prominent young composers, the album's broad sonic spectrum acts as a barrier breaker between traditions and musical languages. Featuring collaborations with nine world-renowned musicians and vocalists, New Strings Attached serves as yet another living testimonial to the endless faces of the contemporary guitar.

Relevant for both Israeli music corpus and the guitar repertoire, this recording showcases the many distinct musical styles and trends being crystallized by today's emerging contemporary composers. "It seemed natural to combine two of my deepest interests-performing and initiating the creation of new music on the one hand, and exploring layers of my own cultural roots and identity on the other," explains Lev, an Israeli native based in New York City. "I came to believe that in order to bring forth the unique diversity of musical voices emerging from Israel, the guitar with its endless versatility of color, style and texture, is the perfectly suited instrument."

The album is equally divided between two main centers: one of purely instrumental music, and the other of vocally oriented music. It opens with Lev on solo guitar in Gilad Cohen's The Rushing Camel brilliantly fusing influences of classical music, ethnic music and progressive rock through a deeply intimate, virtuosic and original take on the very idiom of classical guitar. Transcending any ethnic pretexts are Yair Klartag's Nothing to express featuring the broad-minded Mivos String Quartet, and Guy Barash's TalkBack III adding new dimensions with live electronics.

The album's remaining three works explore the expansive synergy between the guitar and vocalists. Internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham joins Lev and violinist Miranda Cuckson in Jonathan Keren's Three Ladino Songs, a mystical piece that illuminates original folk music. Set to the poems by H.N. Bialik, one of the most important Hebrew poets of the early 20th century, Four Bialik Children's Songs by Ronnie Reshef brings a magical fairy tale to life with witty, lyrical art-song settings performed by Lev and soprano Tehila Nini-Goldstein. The album ends on a personal note with an original piece by Lev featuring mezzo-soprano Re'ut Ben-Ze'ev. Serving as a melting pot of memory and consciousness, Shomeret Layla layers recollections of Lev's Kibbutz childhood: an old night-log from an actual Shomeret Layla, the verses of Israeli poet Natan Alterman, and the book of Psalms.

Known as one of today's most captivating new performers, Lev brings an expressive, edgy and utterly personal voice to classical and contemporary music. His debut album was described as "a CD to savor and delight in...his playing is of the utmost authority...a sheer delight from start to finish (Classical Guitar Magazine)." Much like New Strings Attached, Lev takes listeners on a journey between immensely different musical landscapes through inspired, profound performances.

About Nadav Lev

An Andrés Segovia Award winner (Música en Compostela, Spain), Nadav Lev has been performing throughout the US, Israel and Europe, in venues such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall, with an extraordinary variety of styles and forms - from classical to rock to jazz and improvised music. He has performed in prestigious concert series and festivals including the John Marlow Guitar series in Washington D.C., Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart, Musique en Graves and Chaillol in France, to name a few. Lev has performed with groups such as the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Le Zion and the Israel Kibbutz Orchestra. This season he will make his debut as a soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, performing a new concerto dedicated to him by Ayal Adler. Lev has played Piazzolla's Double Concerto along with legendary bandoneon player Raul Jaurena, and is a founding member of the Prototip Trio, together with mandolin player Avi Avital and harpist Sivan Magen. Among recent collaborators are mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham, Klezmatics founders Frank London and Alicia Svigals and double bassist Remy Yulzari. Lev is the only guitarist in recent years to win AICF's prestigious Abroad Studies award, as well as numerous prizes such as Rodrigo Award (Jerusalem Guitar Competition) and Artists International, to name a few. Lev holds a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, a BM Cum Laude in composition from the Rubin Academy in Tel-Aviv and a BA in Philosophy from Tel-Aviv University. He studied guitar with Ruben Seroussi, David Starobin and David Leisner; also composition with Seroussi and Itzhak Sadai. Lev was born in kibbutz Nachshon, Israel. After graduating from "Thelma Yelin" High School for the Arts, he joined Israel's Air Force Orchestra. Lev currently resides in NYC. nadavlev.com.

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