Jack Gottlieb

Jack Gottlieb gave a commentary titled “Notes on ‘Reaching for the Note,’ ” after a screening of the documentary Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note on March 8, 2004, at the Center for Jewish History in New York, NY. Gottlieb also addressed a symposium on Bernstein’s Mass, delivering the talk “A Jewish Mass or a Catholic Mitzvah” on May 5, prior to performances by the ProMusic Chamber Orchestra, Columbus (OH) State Community College. The CD Leonard Bernstein: A Jewish Legacy (Naxos), co-produced, with arrangements, notes, and performance by Gottlieb, received rave reviews from Gramophone Magazine, American Record Guide, Newark Star Ledger, Kansas City Star, and other publications. Gottlieb’s latest book, “Funny, It Doesn’t Sound Jewish: How Yiddish Songs and Synagogue Melodies Influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood,” was launched with a lecture-entertainment and signing, at the Library of Congress, September 20. The book has received glowing reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, St. Louis Post Dispatch, and Playbill, while endorsements have appeared in the New York Sun and the New York Times. You are invited to visit the composer’s Web site at www.jackgottlieb.com.

Premieres

Let the Whole World Change, received its premiere along with performances of selections from Love Songs for Sabbath, and other choral works and solos, in a complete service of Gottlieb music on March 26, 2004, at Temple Israel of Hollywood, CA, with Cantor Aviva Rosenbloom, and diverse professional choirs and instrumentalists under the direction of Philip Smith.

Performances

Twilight Crane was performed February 8, 2004, by the Kingsbury Woodwind Quintet with narrator Kim Buetzow at the Huntington Museum of Art, and on May 23 by the Quintet of the Americas with narrator Patti Wyss at the Flushing (NY) Library; the latter performance was repeated and recorded June 25 at New York University. Presidential Suite was played over WNYC-FM in a President’s Day broadcast, February 16; the suite was also chosen by the Library of Congress to appear on its Web site “I Hear America Singing,” featuring both the original manuscript and a recording. The Silent Flickers, 13 Diversions for piano four hands, was performed February 18 by the Duo Pianistico di Firenze, in Brindisi, Italy. The English Lesson, Act III, Scene IV from Henry V by Shakespeare, was presented March 4-7 with two alternate casts of women and piano: Laura Green and Heather Green (Katharine), Charlotte Surkin and Donna Slawsky (Alice), pianist Thomas Bo, 14th Street Y, New York City, NY; Laura Green, Surkin, and Bo gave a repeat performance August 8 at the third annual Festival of Wrights, Makor/Steinhardt Center, New York, NY. Mezzo-soprano Fredda Mendelssohn and pianist Joyce Rosenzweig presented It is Evening at a benefit concert April 1, at Temple Rodeph Sholom, New York, NY.

Publications

Book: “Funny, It Doesn’t Sound Jewish: How Yiddish Songs and Synagogue Melodies Influenced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and Hollywood,” Library of Congress and State University of New York Press. Twilight Crane, new edition for narrator and woodwind quintet; Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Songs of Godlove, two volume set of 51 solos and duets, Theophilous Music, distributed by Transcontinental Music/Hal Leonard, Inc. String Quartet, new engraving; Psalmistry, SATB chorus, soloists, jazz ensemble, piano/vocal score; both by Theophilous Music.

Recordings

Presidential Suite (with Menotti’s The Unicorn, the Goron and the Manticore, and Schafer’s A Medieval Bestiary), Carolina Chamber Chorale, conducted by Timothy Koch; Albany Records, Troy 452. “Jewish Composers in America;” Half Kaddish, Zamir Chorale of Boston Recordings, Joshua Jacobson, conductor. Kol sasson v’kol simchah, School of Sacred Music Choir, in celebration of the 125th Anniversary of HUC-JIR. Mama’s Cooking, Don Alan Croll, AMC Recording. Leonard Bernstein: A Jewish Legacy, co-produced by Gottlieb; Naxos 8.559407. Love Songs for Sabbath, Psalmistry and Other Choral Works by Jack Gottlieb (Three Candle Blessings, Shalom Aleichem with Candle Blessing, Set Me As a Seal, Shout for Joy, and Yevarechecha), with reader Tovah Feldshuh; Carolina Chamber Choir, the New York Motet Choir, Texas Tech University Choir, University of Southern Mississippi Chorus and Ensemble; Naxos. After the Flood, a Musical Journey in Two Acts by Jack Gottlieb and Roy Friedman, CD demo recording with a cast of six singers, Theophilous Music, Inc.

Further Information

• 2002-2003 American Composers Update
• 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