Words, Music, Memory: (Re)presenting Voices of the Holocaust"

Adina Langer has created and curated the exhibit "Words, Music, Memory: (Re)presenting Voices of the Holocaust. This ten-panel exhibit, along with an accompanying digital gallery guide, focuses on the links along the "chain of commemoration that connect the past and the present, and generation to generation."

The exhibit debuted September 19, 2021 at a concert given by soprano Sheena Ramirez, oboe/english hornist Jeanette Zyko and pianist Jeremiah Padillo. The concert featured works composed by Dr. Laurence Sherr and myself. In fact, Sheena's doctoral dissertation focuses on the four Holocaust-themed cycles I have composed for soprano and instruments: I Never Saw Another Butterfly, In Sleep The World is Yours, The Ocean of Eternity and The Secret Exit.

Included on the panels are the words of writers who witnessed the Holocaust, whereas the digital gallery includes additional information about the musical and dramatic pieces along with interviews with composers, lyricists, and performers.

The exhibit will remain up until Nov 9th, 2021, when it be be shown at a closing concert in honor of Kristallnacht — “Kristallnacht Commemoration” will feature Cory Schantz, baritone; KSU Chamber Singers, Leslie J. Blackwell, conductor; and Laurence Sherr, composer, and include Sherr’s own “Fugitive Footsteps” in this moving concert commemorating the Holocaust. Tickets are available here.

For more information and to view the Gallery Guide, please click here.

Spotlight feature on textura.org

I am so honored to be featured textura.org's Spotlight!

Based in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, the textura site premiered in August 2004. It features reviews of experimental, electronic, jazz and classical music, along with interviews, mp3s, videos and articles. It's a treasure trove of information. I was so appreciative of their review of my Are Women People? CD — and I look forward to the upcoming review of The Scarlet Letter.

Lyric Fest Premiere of A Party for Kevin

Back in 2020, Lyric Fest commissioned me to write a piece for their Funny Bone concert. After multiple delays due to Covid, the premiere of my setting of Susan de Sola's poem A Party for Kevin, premiered October 2, 2021 at The Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, with a second performance on October 3, 2021 at The Academy of Vocal Arts. Blythte Gaissert and Laura Ward brought this "pig-tale" about Kevin the pig to vivid life and I am so grateful!

It was wonderful to hear live music again. Other World Premieres were by Juliana Hall, Karl Hinze and David Shapiro and the other fantastic performers were Jennifer Aylmer, Andrew Fuchs and Johnathan McCullough. The concert was fabulous.

Glowing reviews for Are Women People? CD

Reviews for Are Women People?, my latest CD released on Acis in May 2021, are starting to appear and I am so grateful for the wonderful reception.

Maria Mazzaro, Opera News (December 2021) — CD named a "Critic's Choice":

"In the first set of songs Lori Laitman sets three Margaret Atwood poems. They have an uncanny ability to get stuck in your head, and not because the melodies are simple but because they're memorable...The final selection is the only aria from an opera, The Three Feathers...With lyrics that trigger thoughts of The Magic Flute, it's a fulfilling piece that makes you want to listen to the whole opera." 

John Michael Cooper, Journeys blog (December 2021) 

“This album as a whole might be fairly described as a “Laitman sampler,” for in it we catch glimpses of the seemingly infinite malleability and penetrating nuance of this composer’s style...Laitman achieves an ideal balance between the expressive acts of the poetic and musical arts. Every single syllable of every word is perfectly stressed, perfectly sensed, perfectly laid out to entice performers and listeners to hear and read it in their own ways.” 

Ron Schepper of textura.org (August 2021), who named this one of the top 20 classical CDs of 2021:

As the sixty-four-minute recording plays, one is repeatedly dazzled by her compositional versatility and imagination, and experienced as a whole, the set provides an illuminating portrait...

A sterling array of performers brings the material to life: sopranos Nicole Cabell and Maureen McKay, baritone Daniel Belcher, tenor Kyle Knapp, the Fourth Coast Ensemble, violinist Tarn Travers, and pianists Andrew Rosenblum, Maria Sumareva, and Laitman herself. Indicative of the calibre of the personnel involved, many of the participants are award winners and associated with some of the world's greatest opera companies...

She's anything but a reserved minimalist, as the theatricality of the settings repeatedly shows, and many a song brims with an infectious joie de vivre that makes clear why her music is embraced so fervently. Considering the number of songs she's written, the release constitutes a small sampling, yet the marvelous music that is presented enables a clear impression of Laitman's remarkable range and command to form.

Robert A. Moore of American Record Guide (Sept./Oct. 2021):

“…this glorious outpouring of song (with the odd chamber piece) acts as yet another testament to the strength of Laitman’s vocal output… This disc is itself a treasure—another example of the inexhaustible font of imagination that is Lori Laitman.”

Colin Clarke of Fanfare Magazine (June 2021)

“Lori Laitman’s adroit gift for choosing excellent texts combined with her keen ability to set those texts poignantly and memorably has put her in the upper echelon of our finest contemporary song composers. With musical language that expresses a wide range of feelings and styles she demonstrates once again what makes her songs so good. 

Atwood’s mastery of words is phenomenal, and Laitman’s ability to give voice to them with music is poignant. Maureen McKay’s reading of these songs is exquisite.

I think this is Laitman’s best song album to date. If you are not yet familiar with her songs this is a good place to begin, as it presents such a wide range of styles in setting texts that speak powerfully to our time, the role women have played in our nation’s history, and the second-class status they still face now.”