June 17, 2024
2023-24 Season Recap
It's been a wonderful and exhilarating season of music-making– everything from having a film score screened at a film festival, hearing some of my chamber and choral works premiered, performing numerous collaborative piano engagements (including one at Carnegie Hall!), and a whole lot more. Here's a recap of some of the highlights from this past season.
Elliot In The News
The season started off with a very flattering article in the Jewish Standard about my recent appointment as conductor of the Bergen County chapter of HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir. The article can be found here.
Conducting Gerald Cohen's Steal a Pencil for Me
In October, I had the opportunity to travel to Bethesda, MD, to conduct a concert version of Cantor Gerald Cohen's chamber opera, Steal a Pencil for Me, inspired by a true story about Holocaust survivors. Here's a shot with the other performers and the sponsors of the event.
Performance with Zamir Chorale and Zamir Noded
Towards the end of 2023, I performed a concert with two wonderful choirs I accompany, Zamir Chorale and Zamir Noded, at Merkin Concert Hall. The energy in the hall was electric. Here's a recording of one of the pieces on our program, L'maan Tzion by Steve Cohen.
underStaffed @ Bohemian National Hall
In February, I conducted my ensemble, underStaffed, in a program of works by lesser-known Czech composers and their more well-known contemporaries. The concert took place at the beautiful Bohemian National Hall. You can check out a small excerpt recording of our concert on our new and improved website!
GNDR screening @ Nyack International Film Festival
It was a joy to score a beautiful new dance film entitled GNDR, which explores the intersection of gender and spirituality. The film was selected for screening at the Nyack International Film Festival and won an award for Best Choreography. Pictured to the left are dancer Judith Rose and director Lucas Ruderman. The film can be viewed here.
Accompanying at Carnegie Hall
Being conductor of the Bergen County chapter of HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir comes with its perks. One of which was the opportunity to accompany the choir on some of their music at their Carnegie Hall gala concert. Here is our recording of Acheinu by Abie Rotenberg.
2 Programs of German-Jewish Opera
In the spring, I had the chance to accompany two programs of music by German-Jewish composers at both the Center for Jewish History and the Austrian Cultural Forum, respectively. Here is a photo with soprano Elizabeth Pope performing Ernst Toch's wild chamber opera Edgar and Emily.
Collaboration with The New York Virtuoso Singers
As a recent BMI Composer Award Winner, I was fortunate to be one of 10 recent BMI awardees commissioned by The New York Virtuoso Singers to compose a new work for 16-voice a cappella choir. To the right is a photo with conductor Harold Rosenbaum after the performance, and the recording of my new piece about wild huckleberries can be found here.
Bassoon Camp!
For about 10 days from the end of May into early June, I am the pianist for the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp at the Wildacres Retreat in NC, interacting with nearly 100 bassoonists from year to year. Here are photos with two of the guest artists (Peter Kolkay, left, and Nancy Goeres, right) whom I had the privilege to accompany this year.
