A New Adaptation of
Shir Hashirim (The Song of Songs)

By
Noa Ain
and
Gerard Edery

Presented by PREMIERES in June 2001
at the Clark Studio Theater in the Rose Building
at Lincoln Center

Directed by
Eleanor Reissa

Lighting design by
Neil Peter Jampolis

CAST
Rex Benincasa, Trudy Ellen Craney, Gerard Edery,
Rachel Handman, Zein al Jundi, George Mgrdichian

Casting Director: Alan Filderman
 
SYNOPSIS

SONG OF THE TURTLEDOVE is performed in English, Hebrew and Arabic and accompanied by guitar, oud, violin and a large assortment of Middle-Eastern percussion instruments.  The work mixes the exotic Arabic/Flamenco/Sephardic sound of the Gerard Edery Ensemble with the more Classical/Jazz flavor of Noa Ain’s music.  Originally developed at the O’Neill Theater Center’s National Music Theater Conference in 1999, it was subsequently presented at the Museum of Jewish Heritage following its New York City debut with PREMIERES.
 
BIOGRAPHIES
NOA AIN: graduated from Juilliard, studied piano with Seymour Bernstein, composition with Hall Overton and analysis with Stefan Wolpe. She has received an Obie Award (Metamorphosis In Miniature, Martha Clarke, Director), the Stephen Sondheim Award, and many awards from ASCAP. Her opera, Joan of Arc, for soprano and surround sound (with Trudy Ellen Craney, soprano, Andy Brick, orchestration) premiered at The Angel Orensantz Foundation, spring 2000 (Ms. Ain directed). Opera News called the work "a brilliantly conceived experience." Angels' Voices (Gary Race, Libretto, Noa Ain, Music), an opera for young people, was commissioned and produced by The Kennedy Center, and won first prize in a national competition. The Outcast (based on the Biblical Book of Ruth, directed by George Faison) was produced by Opera Ebony and Merkin Hall at Aaron Davis Hall and Merkin, by David Gockley at The Houston Grand Opera and by 651 (Tina Landau, Director, Mikki Shepherd, Producer) at BAM's Majestic Theatre. In his New York Times review, Allan Kozinn said "a timely examination of interracial tension and gradual acceptance... an almost seamless stream of lyricism... briskly paced eclectic score." Trio was co-produced by AMTF, Arts at St. Anne's, and Carnegie Hall Corp., and was performed at all three (Hilary Blecher, director, Maya Lin, set). In his review, Will Crutchfield said it was a "haunting heartening gem" and gave it Critic's Choice. Leaving Home (CZAS NA UWIEGI) a melodrama with continuous music (Ms. Ain, director) ran for one year at Teatr Stu, Krakow, Poland (Krzysztof Jasinski, Director), and won Outstanding Work of the Year (in his review, M. Szybist said "beautiful music: strange and disquieting, meditative and violent in some dangerous, delicate way").  Through the Silence (For Cello and Survivor), based on the life and words of Tana Ross, premiered at the festival "Culture and Barbarism: the Art of Theresienstadt" in Stockholm (Tana Ross, actor). The animated film based on this work, Silence (produced by Halo Films, London), won 25 international awards, was bought by Save The Children, and is now in the permanent collection of MOMA. Song of the Turtledove (co-written with Gerard Edery for the Gerard Edery Ensemble) was developed at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Festival (Paulette Haupt, Producer, Eleanore Reissa, Director). It was then presented by Ms. Haupt as part of the opening of her series Premieres at the Clark Studio Theater at Lincoln Center.  She has just signed with Creative Entertainment Group, Sharon Kim-Dion, Director. For more information, her agent can be reached at sharon@ceg-events.com. Ms. Ain is also a visual artist. Her paintings and portraits can be found at www.noaain.com
 
GERARD EDERY: "A cultural powerhouse," Gerard Edery, "juggles musical roles with almost surreal ease" (Seattle Jewish Transcript and the New York Jewish Week).  Gerard was born in Casablanca and raised in Paris and New York City.  Speaking several languages throughout his childhood, he absorbed a variety of musical traditions spanning three continents.  Trained as a classical baritone at The Manhattan School of Music, he has sung more than thirty roles with opera companies around the United States.  Mr. Edery works with renowned cantors Alberto Mizrahi and Aaron Bensoussan in his group, the Sons of Sepharad.  He is a frequent guest cantorial soloist at Synagogues and Jewish Community Centers throughout the United States and Canada.  Considered one of the leading interpreters of Sephardic Song, he has been honored with the Sephardic Musical Heritage Award for his recording Linda Amiga.  Mr. Edery is a prolific recording artist and has released ten CD’s which are available on the Sefarad Records label.  He has also just released The Gerard Edery Sephardic Song Book available through Sefarad Publishing. Upcoming performances include the JCC in Vilnius, Lithuania, the Houston JCC and various colleges/universities, AMJ in Genera, Switzerland and many other perf--ormances throughout the United States and Europe.  In this exciting performance he is performing with renowned oud player, Ara Dinkjian, and acclaimed percussionist, Rex Benincasa.
 
CONTACT INFO
For further information about SONG OF THE TURTLEDOVE, contact Thia Knowlton at 212-924-3746 or www.sefaradrecords.com