Blog

  • News   10
  • 04 Jan 2012, News
  • My new website!
  • The url hasn't changed ( contzius.com ), but I've moved over to WordPress. Yes, it was a little challenging, but the functionality is extraordinary! I'm loving it! I'm trying to keep a more active blog there, so please do come by and visit!
  • 21 Okt 2011, News
  • I'm starting a newsletter!
  • I'd like to let more of you know when I'm performing or composing... or just share with you something you might find interesting! I started a newsletter. I won't spam anyone, and it takes up very little room in the e-mail box! If you're interested in  subscribing , you just have to follow this  link , put in your e-mail address, and you're set to go! My most immediate news is that I will have two of my works performed at the upcoming URJ Biennial convention in Washington DC this ...
  • 28 Sep 2011, News
  • Singing with the Afro-Semitic Experience
  • Last year, I had the pleasure of recording an album with the Afro-Semitic Experience. Now that it was just released, the reviews are coming in and are generally positive! David Chevan and Alvin Carter of the band were interviewed about the album on NPR, and they play a short clip of my track, "Shema Koleinu!" Check it out: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/28/140876465/jewish-new-year-brings-new-music
  • 21 Sep 2011, News
  • Necessity is the mother of invention
  • As for most of my composition work, I will run into situations at the synagogue where a text needs--or demands--music that has yet to be written. Certainly there are many musical settings of the same texts, but sometimes I want to say something through music that has yet to be expressed by any previous settings. This is what drove me to start composing in the first place. But sometimes, there are texts that one would expect to have many settings for, but alas--slim pickin's! Such is the ...
  • 13 Sep 2011, News
  • New premiere THIS Wednesday!
  • This coming week begins the 2011 American Conference of Cantors-Guild of Temple Musicians' annual convention in Boston, MA. A big highlight will be the honoring of women in the cantorate. For the occasion, I was asked to compose a work. Based on a wonderful poem by Dina Elenbogen, "A Woman's Voice" will be premiered this coming Wednesday morning during the Shakharit prayer service. Written for SSA choir and piano, the work attempts to paint the Jewish woman's voice as a strong, powerful, yet ...
  • 13 Sep 2011, News
  • Latest Commission--Sim Shalom
  • After a successful debut performance of my work, "A Woman's Voice," this past June in Boston, friend and colleague Cantor Debra Stein asked if I would write a work for her synagogue in honor of her rabbi and friend, Sheldon Zimmerman. How could I say, "no"? I couldn't! Her synagogue uses a wonderful new prayerbook from the UK which contains a Sephardic text of Sim Shalom that she wanted set. I can understand this completely: Whenever a new prayerbook gets published and a new text gets implemented, a lot of ...
  • 19 Nov 2010, News
  • World Premiere of "Mah Ashiv Ladonai - quid retribuam Domino"
  • On November 16, 2010, my latest composition, "Mah Ashiv Ladonai - quid retribuam Domino," a setting of Psalm 116, was premiered at the Vatican. It was performed by 20 members of the American Conference of Cantors with Dr. Alan Mason, accompanist, and Leigh Korn, conductor.
  • 10 Okt 2010, News
  • Two exciting premieres!
  • This past Friday evening, one of my recent works, Kanah Shem Tov,  was premiered by Cantor Judy Seplowin and  Temple Beth-El Congregation Sons of Israel and David of Providence, Rhode Island. Written for their Rabbi, Leslie Gutterman, celebrating his 40 years of service to that congregation, apparently there were over 800 in attendance. The work was a total surprise to Rabbi Gutterman, as Cantor Seplowin approached me months ago to work on the project and the idea was to keep it a secret from ...
  • 17 Aug 2010, News
  • Fiercely composing...
  • Sabbaticals have to be planned well. But even with the best laid plans, one has to be vigilant in using one's time wisely. My intention over the course of two months this summer was to dedicate myself to writing. The good thing is that I actually did get some things down on (virtual) paper. Even so, I feel like I had more to write and not enough time to write it in. Mercifully, the muse strikes and can strike hot. I'm still trying to complete a complicated work which would up being anti-climactic. ...
  • 23 Jul 2010, News
  • New Compositions on the way!
  • I'm concentrating this summer on creating several new choral works. I have just completed one and have at least two more I must get under my belt before the summer, but I'm hard at work and anticipate the muse will be cooperative! Wish me luck!