MAKING THINGS

 

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,

One clover, and a bee.

And revery.

The revery alone will do,

If bees are few.

 

Emily Dickinson, 1830 - 1886

 

 

Music-making to me is part of a greater creative process.  I am a firm believer in making things.  From my childhood backyard theater productions with the neighborhood kids (we played "Cinderella" to a soundtrack of Vivaldi's "Summer."  Go figure.) to today's concerts and full-blown festivals, building things from scratch comes naturally to me.  Being a musician is a culmination of years of dreaming, planning, hoping and preparing.  I am so glad to finally have a chance to Play.

 

I am not a composer, but through improvising and programming, I try to let music speak.  I am most interested in contemporary repertoire,  especially that which introduces new sounds, and which uses extended compositional techniques and improvisation. I like the adventurous, weird and creative concert form.  I relish the challenges of working with creative people from other disicplines, and the cross-fertilization which occurs in such a creative melting pot. 

 

The ensembles with which I work, Carmina Singer Ensemble in Israel, Wild Blossom in Amsterdam and REVOICE International Vocal Ensemble (everywhere!) all have this in common: we try to use music, and whatever other artistic disciplines we can find, in order to tell a story.  Once we get talking, we have a lot to say, from politics to ethics to literature to history, love and roasting chestnuts. 

 

I work with singers most of all, because the human voice is the most personal and direct form of expression I know.  The possibilities to touch the emotions, the flexibility and directness of it, fill it with exciting possibilities.  My heros are composers like the big hearted Bernstein, the cool perfection of Britten, the adventurous Berio and openminded, openhearted Gunnar Eriksson, crazy, free ensembles such as Voces Nordicae and the Dutch Wind Ensemble, whose leader Bart Schneemann had completely influenced my world, folky, beautiful Trio Mediaeval and John Eliot Gardiner, who brings out new colors and sides to every piece he performs.  All these have had a part in the musician I am, and will become.  Wandering on the way...