A week of Jewish Music on the recorder

For its newest series of concert, Praetorius has indulged in the various styles of Jewish music: Sephardic, Yiddish and Klezmer. Besides that, music of the 17th century Italian rabbi and composer Salomon Rossi will be played.

During the concert you will be guided through a weeks life of a rabbi. He will tell about the everydays goings-on he experiences: the birth of a child, a Jewish marriage and a funeral. Praetorius will play matching music from various Jewish traditions. Baritone Ken Gould is a chazzan (a precentor in a Jewish service) and will sing a number of songs during the concert.

In the past, Praetorius has repeatedly interpreted music from the Spanish Renaissance. This will be continued in this project with the Sephardic songs that will be played during this programme. For this, Praetorius will colaborate with singer Carolien Devilee and percussionist en nay-player Sattar Al-Saadi. The Sephardic music originates from the society of Arabs, Jews and Catholics in the South of Spain from the 8th to the 15th century. The songs deal with all kinds of aspects of (Jewish) life, like love, marriage and birth. The language of these Spanish/Portuguese-Jewish songs is 'Ladino', a mixture of old-Castilian and Hebrew.

Klezmer and Yiddish music originate from the Jewish culture in Eastern Europe. The melodies are always very expressive and can sound cheerful and melancholy at the same time. Besides vocal music there is a lot of instrumental music, both to dance and to listen to. Praetorius will play some wonderful pieces.

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