Jerusalem, Earthly and Divine

(Lea Goldberg, translated by Rachel Tzvia Back)

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Program Notes

Much of my music is composed as a response to world events – and these songs are no different. My perspective about many things, political and otherwise, changed drastically subsequent to October 7, 2023. While I spent the vast majority of my life fortunately free from personally experiencing antisemitism, watching the world’s response in the months and years following the October 7 attack on Israel, I became painfully aware that antisemitism is as prevalent today as it has been for the past two thousand years.

As with most of the awful facts of the world, there’s nothing I can do about any of it, except spin notes to express my feelings about it. Having recently discovered the poetry of Israeli poet Lea Goldberg, I was thrilled to be given permission by Rachel Tzvia Back, the translator of “On the Surface of Silence: The Last Poems of Lea Goldberg,” to set this poetic triptych to music. This music has been composed in support of Israel. Whatever its flaws may be, it is the only country on this troubled planet where Jews can live without being a tiny minority at the mercy of others.

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