Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 2 pm

Join us on Sunday, April 2nd at 2 pm at the Congregation
Emanu-El synagogue, for the fourth talk in our series Sketches of Israel and the Middle East when Dr. Dániel
Péter Biró will describe his work in the Mediterranean Voices project
in 2013-2014.
This project, funded by the German Federal Culture Foundation and
done in coordination with filmmaker Daniel Kötter and the vocal group the Neue
Vocalsolisten, brought him to Tunisia in a turbulent period just after the
political revolution there. Dániel will
discuss his trip to the island Djerba off the coast of Tunisia, home for over
2500 years to the oldest Jewish diaspora community, and his research into
Jewish and Islamic chant traditions. Finally, he will consider how these chant
and other traditions played a role in the composition Al Ken Kara (That Is
Why It Was Called) for seven voices, performed by the Neue Vocalsolisten.
This piece, based on the text of the Tower of Babel, exists as a musical
analogy to the original Torah text and as research into a historicized
compositional methodology.
Dániel
Péter Biró is Associate Professor of Composition and Music Theory at the
University of Victoria, BC, Canada. After studying in Hungary, Germany and
Austria, he completed his PhD in composition at Princeton University in 2004.
He has been commissioned by major festivals and venues and won international
composition prizes. He was Visiting Professor, Utrecht University in 2011 and
Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University in
2014-2015. His compositions have been performed around the world. In 2015 he was elected to the College of New
Scholars, Scientists and Artists of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2016-2017
he was Artist-in-Residence at the University of Victoria Centre for Studies in
Religion and Society. His compositions are published by Edition Gravis. Website: www.danielpeterbiro.ca
Sponsored by the
Emanu-El Adult Education Team, this series aims at increasing our members’
knowledge of Israel and the Middle East. Contact Heshi at heshi@me.com if you have any questions.
Entry is by donation: light
refreshments will be served.
Remember! Sunday, April 2 is
the last day of the Pesach market, so arrive early and pick up those last
minutes goodies before you come to the talk at 2 pm.