Klezmer Clarinet and String Quartet:
Osvaldo Golijov’s “Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind”
Featuring:
Pat O’Keefe, clarinet
Susan Crawford, violin
Lorie Hippen, violin
Alastair Brown, viola
Joe Englund, cello
The centerpiece of this concert’s program, “Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind,” is inventive composer Osvaldo Golijov’s 1994 meditation on the life of thirteenth century Jewish mystic and philosopher Isaac the Blind. The composition combines contemporary influences with Klemzer music and its roots in the Jewish folk music of Eastern Europe. In addition, the concert will feature clarinetist Pat O’Keefe’s arrangements of several pieces of traditional Klezmer dance music for clarinet and string quartet, along with the beautiful “Rifkele and Manke’s Theme,” composed by Lisa Gutkin and featured last year in the Guthrie Theater’s production of the play Indecent.
All concerts are at noon, are FREE to the public, and include coffee and bagels. After the performances there is an opportunity to meet and talk with the musicians.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts, and through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
Additional funding is made possible by generous donations from Boss Foundation, Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation, Ecolab Foundation, Anna M. Heilmaier Foundation and the Twin Cities Opera Guild and an Anonymous donor.