Jack Gottlieb

Godlove, two song albums of 50 solos or duets by Jack Gottlieb, scheduled for release in early 2004, is a collection of sacred and secular texts in Hebrew with singing English translations, Yiddish and English. Theophilous Music, Inc. is the publisher with distribution by Transcontinental Music in conjunction with Hal Leonard Music Corp. Gottlieb's forthcoming book Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish, now has a new subtitle: How Yiddish Songs and Synagogue Melodies Influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood. Co-published by The Library of Congress and SUNY Press, Albany, NY, it is scheduled for release in the spring of 2004. The following interviews are in print: "On Symphony No. 3: Kaddish by Bernstein" in the Juilliard Journal, November 2003; and "On the First Graduating Class of the Graduate School, Brandeis University," in the Brandeis Review, December 2003. You are invited to visit Jack Gottlieb's web site jackgottlieb.com.

Premieres

Sh'ma Koleinu was first heard as performed by Cantor Fredda Mendelson, mezzo-soprano, and Jayson Enqguist, organ, on July 4, 2003, New York Hilton Hotel, New York, NY.

Performances

Psalm 23 (from Psalmistry) for choir, organ, and two flutes, was performed by the Gregg Smith Singers, conducted by Gregg Smith, Saint Peter's Church, New York, NY, November 11, 2002, and by the Hong Kong Bach Choir, conducted by Jerome Hoberman, November 3, 2003. Five Songs by American Poets: "Heavenly Grass" (Tennessee Williams), "Acquainted With the Night" (Robert Frost), "yes is a pleasant country" (e.e. cummings), "Face Value" (Gottlieb) and "So Intr'sting!" (Gottlieb) were performed by singers from the Golden Fleece Company with Memrie Innerarity, pianist, at Greenwich House, New York, NY, December 6, 2002. Cantor Vicki Axe, the American Conference of Cantors (ACC) Jubilee Convocation Choir, and organist Allen Sever, conducted by Cantor Eric Contzius, performed Half-Kaddish (choral), Tzur Yisrael (solo with choir), and Judge Of the World (organ recessional) on July 3, 2003, Temple Emanu-El, New York, NY. Jack Gottlieb was made an honorary member of the ACC at this ceremony. Eight excerpts from The Silent Flickers for piano four-hands and dancer, were presented by Bernadette Hoke and Eric Birk, pianists with Jo Frederiksen, dancer, October 4, Douglaston Community Church, Douglaston, Long Island, NY. Presidential Suite is scheduled to be performed on a concert of all-American music April 7, 2004, with The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, under the direction of David J. Tang. The work has been selected by the Library of Congress to appear on its web site: "I Hear America Singing." Both the original manuscript and a recording will be featured.

Recordings

Half-Kaddish on the album Jewish Composers in America, Zamir Chorale of Boston Recordings, Joshua Jacobson, conductor. Mama's Cooking (song), recorded by Don Alan Croll, AMC Recording, Dallas, TX. Leonard Bernstein: A Jewish Heritage: CD with Jack Gottlieb as co-producer, pianist, and annotator; Milken Archive, distributed by Naxos International; includes previously unrecorded material. Gottlieb's tribute to Bernstein on the CD is reprinted in the Bernstein newsletter Prelude, Fugue & Riffs, Fall 2003.

Further Information

• 2001-2002 American Composers Update
• 2000-2001 American Composers Update
• 1999-2000 American Composers Update
• 1998-1999 American Composers Update
• 1997-1998 American Composers Update
• 1996-1997 American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online
• SAI's Music for Young People section