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 Rabbi Gutternam until this performance.
As you can imagine, I had to keep this under wraps, and can only talk about it now, let alone publish the work (which I'm doing presently!).
As if that weren't enough, I recently completed a work which will be premiered at the Vatican on November 16 by the American Conference of Cantors as a part of a Jewish-Catholic Dialogue. I set the text of Psalm 116 (115 in the Latin Vulgate) for SATB Choir and Piano in both Hebrew and Latin. So far, those participating and have previewed the score have been enthusiastic, even despite the fact that the demo I recorded is all my voice. Thank goodness for Apple and GarageBand, with its vocal transformer. I can sing Soprano and Alto with it!
I'll be publishing that work (entitled Mah Ashiv Ladonai - quid retribuam Domino) soon after its performance this fall!