Context Speaks Volumes at Berkeley's Jewish Music Festival
March 9, 2013
Jeff Dunn, San Francisco Classical Voice
“Vilna Poems / Akoka: The End of Time / In Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” read the title sheet of the Jewish Music Festival’s concert at Berkeley Repertory Theatre on Saturday...Garner’s musical language is simple yet subtle, tonal, and beautiful. The subjects of the poetry moved from love, to imprisonment, to digging pits for executions, to PTSD … and ended with rejuvenation. Soprano Lisa Delan’s lovely voice added its grace to the accompaniment of David Krakauer’s clarinet, Matt Haimovitz’s cello, and Kristin Pankonin’s piano. Read more
David Garner interviewed on KALW FM 91.7 on March 3 at 8:00 p.m.
Garner was interviewed by Sarah Cahill on her show "Then and Now" on KALW FM Radio 91.7 on Sunday March 3. The interview focused on his new work, Vilna Poems and his other upcoming projects. Listen to the broadcast.
San Francisco composer mixes poetry and melody in hybrid forms
July 16, 2012
Jonathan Farrell, Digital Journal
Persian percussion with kabbalah-like lyrics is what some might refer to as world music "fusion." Yet to composer David Garner, the better word to describe it is "hybrid." "Fusion is a dead term, affected and outdate," he said. Read More
"Vilna Poems" at the Jewish Music Festival in March -- World Premiere
---Lisa Delan, soprano, Kristin Pankonin, piano, David Krakauer, clarinet, and Matt Haimowitz will premiere Vilna Poems, a song cycle by the great Yiddish poet Avram Sutzker, composed in memory of Sylvie Braitman. the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. In performance at the Jewish Music Festival on the Thrust Stage of the Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2025
Addison St., Berkeley, CA.
A Trio of Recordings for Summer 2012
---Spoon River Songs, with mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook and pianist Kristin Pankonin will be available on the web starting this fall.
---Vilna Poems (six Yiddish songs by Avrom Sutskever was recorded at Skywalker Sound, featuring Lisa Delan, Matt Haimovitz (cello), David Krakauer (clarinet) and pianist Kristin Pankonin. The cycle will be available on Penta Tone Classics in 2013.
---The first CD of the Persian Melody Project, a collaboration between Garner and soprano Raeeka Shehabi-Yaghmai, was recorded at Fantasy Studios with pianist Kristin Pankonin, and will be published later in the fall, along with the sheet-music.
International Premiere in Berlin in October
Soprano Nanette McGuinness and pianist Dale Tsang-Hall continue to perform Garner's German song cycles around the Bay Area as part of the Jewish Music and Poetry Project, most recently in Berkeley, August 8, with cellist Adaiha Macadam-Somer.
McGuinness and Tsang-Hall will perform the international premiere of "Chanson für Morgen" (texts by Mascha Kaleko) in Berlin this October at the Lichtburg Forum in a multidisciplinary program, Mascha Kalekos Gedichte als Musik. Upcoming premieres in 2013 and 2014 will feature three other of Garner's German-language cycles on poetry by Rose Ausländer (working title "Phönix"), Yala Korwin and Elsa Lasker-Schueler.
"Phenomenal Woman" at Jazz at Lincoln Center
May 21, 2010
The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center
An Evening of American Song:And If the Song Be Worth a Smile
Lisa Delan, soprano, Kristin Pankonin, piano,
Matt Haimovitz, cello
"This concert of songs by six living American composers was presented by PentaTone Classics to celebrate its release of Lisa Delan’s recording of the program, also entitled “And if the Song be Worth a Smile.” Three of the composers – Gordon Getty, David Garner, and Luna Pearl Woolf – were present..."Read more
East Bay Symphony celebrates Persian New Year
Monday, March 17, 2008
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle Music Critic
"Michael Morgan and the Oakland East Bay Symphony threw an early New Year's party at the Paramount Theatre Friday night... a collection of Persian folk songs orchestrated by Bay Area composer David Garner, turned out to be a heady and touching revelation..." Read Review
"Phenomenon": Music of David Garner available
Produced by Pentatone Classics - Released June 2009, featuring Susanne Mentzer, William Stone, Stephanie Friede, Francisco Araiza, Lisa Delan, Kristin Pankonin and members of the San Francisco Symphony.
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