Immersive theater off-broadway show called Murmurs and Incantations

If you are in NYC in August 2013, please don’t miss my new collaboration with multi-talented artist Dahn Hiuni, who wrote an entertaining and humorous play called Murmurs & Incantations. The play provides a thoughtful meditation on creativity, family, memory and the meaning of life. I am going to compose the new score over this summer of 2013 and on August 19 I will be in NYC to work with the director and the actors on implementing the score into the production. I will be playing some of the sounds live on autoharp and some pre recorded tracks from my two lap tops which will be positioned in two music stations in two different rooms. The format is the new and fresh style of immersive theater where the audience members are led through several gallery spaces and ARE part of the action. Without knowing it the audience provides the production with extras, meaning a large amount of actors who do not speak any of the text of the play, but rather contribute with their presence. There is no stage and no seats. The actors are all over the place and lead the audience from space to space. It is also a mixed media piece as there is the use of a video along with live theatrical cast they play the various roles of the play.

The play which is produced by Guy Vidal contrasts the NYC art world and the old shadowy world of Poland and its tragic World War II’s past. My grandparents left Poland in the 1920′s to build a new life in Palestine and helped build Tel Aviv – the first HEbrew city on the sand dunes by the Mediterranean Sea. All of their brothers and sisters, cousins and parents, uncles and grandparents who stayed in Poland, were wiped out by the Nazi monsters that took over the Polish landscape. The play deals with the memories of and the lessons brought to us by the ghosts of that lost generation. What a contrast! Contemporary New York City and the dark shadows of East Europe War time Poland. As I read the script I found this contrast  immediately interesting from a musical perspective. I must go now….got to compose few more notes for the score…..

If you’d like to explore more about this project visit:  www.murmursplay.com and please also visit the indiegogo crowd-sourcing link: http://igg.me/at/Murmurs/x/2991154. You may want to get involved and be part of this interesting project.

An extraordinary Musical Cultural Peace Mission Tour to Israel 2013

Each and every day one ought to make a crucial decision whether to be in service of peace, hope and healing or to be in service of war, aggression and conflict. This May 2013 I am going to lead a group of my fans and supporters on a tour of Israel to meet the peace makers - the Jewish and Arabic educators and the artists who cross boundaries to raise the human spirit above borders and sow the seeds of peace. We will make music and break bread with the Bedouins of the Azazme tribe in the desert, party with the fabulous food and music of the Jewish Bukhari drummers of the Alaev Family, attend exclusive events with some of the greatest world music masters of Israel, such as Yair Dalal, and visit the historical and sacred sites of the Holly Land. Based on my intimate knowledge of Israel, I can say that the next 12 months will be a time for rebuilding, re evaluating and re organizing. No one is expecting security issues in the coming months. Things are quiet in Israel now. We are expecting that it will be quiet in May June when our musical-cultural tour will take place. It will be a time to strengthen the people who nurture the foundation to a peaceful joint-venture future, to support them so they would present an alternative, a real strong alternative to the violence. The musicians, artists, educators are eager to meet with us in May June. I am in touch with them, and they are looking forward to being with us,

The goal of our tour is to strengthen the courageous people in Israel who are creating trust, understanding, common culture and joint ventures for Arabs and Jews a a foundation for future peace solution.

Would you like to come with us ?

SPACE IS LIMITED !!!

To sign up, get the full itinerary, prices and terms please visit the tour page at: http://www.yuvalronmusic.com/text/tour_to_israel_2013.html

For more info email: target@target-conferences.com

More info: www.yuvalronmusic.com  Look in the Calendar Page under May 26-June 7

Bringing Middle Eastern sacred music to China: creating a music video for Erev Shel Shoshanim.

The Chinese director Justin Jia arrived in my studio this summer. He was interested to see how I communicate with my audiences about my music. He was also helping us to communicate with Chinese presenters who are hoping to bring the Yuval Ron Ensemble to China. We decided to have Justin produce and direct a music video of one of my songs. We have also created a version with Chinese subtitles to post on servers that are accessible to the chinese people.

I gave him three of my CD’s (Under the Olive Tree, Tree of Life and Seeker of Truth) and asked him to take a listen and pick the one song that touches his heart most deeply. Being familiar with the film and TV work, I know how long one sits in front of the computer to edit a music video, and how many hours they hear that same song again and again and again while cutting the video.

Justin took a listen and made a clear choice: Erev Shel Shoshanim/Shalom Salam. It was interesting for me to sit down with a young Chinese director and to explain the background of the song and the context of the conflict in the Middle East. Justin got the picture. He shot some footage with my Ensemble singer Maya Haddi, duduk master Norik Manoukian, and myself, and assembled some images from Jerusalem to elaborate on the message of the song.

This song is a prayer for peace for the children of Jerusalem, the Middle East, and the whole world. Please share it with your friends and family and teach it to your children, so we can all carry the message of those who are tired of war and violence and wish only to live quietly in peace.

–

Recorded by the Yuval Ron Ensemble in 2009 for the CD Seeker of Truth, Erev Shel Shoshanim features Maya Haddi on lead vocals and guest Bassam Al Rashidi on male lead vocals. Additional vocals are performed by Smadar Levi, Noor and Valley Beth Shalom Choir. The ensemble also includes Norik Manoukian – duduk, Jamie Papish – percussion, David Martinelli – percussion, Virginie Alimian – kanoun, Najwa Gibran – vocals, Sukhawat Ali Khan – vocals and harmonium, Carolyne Aycaguer-Ron – harmonium, whirling dervish Aziz, sacred dancer Maya G and Yuval Ron – oud and the artistic director. 

Music for Deep Movement Vol.1 is available now!

Hello my dear friends. I am very happy to announce that my newest album, Music for Deep Movement, Vol. 1, is now available! This unique and spiritual album is a combination of music from the soundtrack to the film, EM Moves, and music from the groundbreaking performance of Kalpa, which premiered at the Getty Center in January of this year. The slow evolving, trance-inducing sounds will bring listeners to a deeper level of meditation, contemplation, and heighten your senses to the world around you.

Music for Deep Movement, Vol. 1 is a continuation of the music I created in, In Between the Heart Beat and In the Shallows. In this album I have produced a new palate of sounds and textures by combining both electronic and organic tones in the hopes to make music and movement become one entity. The music is great to move to as well to meditate to as sound meditation.

I would like to give a special thanks to Hirokazu Kosaka, Oguri, Hanna Heiting, and Emily Conrad for giving me the opportunity and inspiration to create the music for Kalpa and EM Moves. I would also like to thank all of the musicians who contributed to this wonderful CD. I am very privileged to be able to work with so many talented artists and I am proud to call my friends.

I hope this CD will bring you much joy as it has brought me in making it. Let it open your heart, body, and mind as you travel along your spiritual journey.

You can purchase this CD on cdbaby via: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/yuvalron.

A voice that will break your heart; with Najwa Gibran on a sacred mountain retreat.

This summer is going to be an incredible one! Among other things, I will be going back to one of my favorite places in America: The Abode of the Message, a paradise oasis on a sacred mountain in the beautiful countryside of upstate New York. Aside from teaching about the sacred music of the three Abrahamic faiths I will be presenting a concert on June 30 at 8 pm, featuring the Yuval Ron Ensemble leading lady, my good friend and sister Najwa Gibran. Najwa is in my humble opinion the best Arabic female voice that exists in the Western World today, and on top of that she is such a classy lady with an amazing integrity and life story. In addition to  the concert she will be sharing her experience and  her insights into the art of Arabic style singing and chanting during an exclusive workshop on the mountain. Participants who will be fortunate to attend her workshop on the June 30 (at 2 pm) will have the opportunity to learn some of Najwa’s songs, vocal ornaments and her approach to vocal improvisation. You may hear and see Najwa in concert in the video below. I hope you will be with us at the Abode on June 30 to hear and feel this in person!

 

Across The Blue Sea: Gypsy, Roma, Turkish meets Israel and Armenian music and dance

Visiting Turkey last year, I became in love with the wonderful soulful music I heard there. In specific, the Roma Gypsy heart breaking music which I heard when clarinet maestro Ferit Benli, virtuoso percussionist Ali Durac and myself jammed in their hometown of Bergeme near Izmir. Although the Roma people originated from Northern India, they have adapted to many cultures from central Asia all the way to Spain, and in Turkey they developed a unique type of Turkish folkloric style of music and dance. This summer, I am bringing them to Los Angeles for the first time, to share their version of the music of the Mediterranean Sea. This would be a unique opportunity to hear that Gypsy Turkish type of music that normally we don’t hear in America.

This premier concert will take place on July 5 2012 and will be titled “Across the Blue Sea”. The Mediterranean Sea is the bond that connects the people of Israel, Greece and Turkey. Even though conflicts separate these people, they all adore the same food, music and dance. Music and food is a fruit of human connection and collaboration. It has the power to ease tensions and to unite people from opposing cultures together.

Along with the Gypsy Roma musicians, the concert would feature the stunning Israeli dancer Maya G Karasso, who has being dancing with the Yuval Ron Ensemble for the last 12 years. Maya will not be the only dancer in this special concert as we are intending to get the whole audience dancing by the end of the evening.

I hope you will join us for this celebration on Thursday, July 5, 2012, at 8:00 PM, at Temple Emanuel 300 North Clark, Beverly Hills, CA 90211

You may get the better priced advance tickets online: $20 at http://www.maticenter.com/

A point of light in America today; Cal Arts, Lorca, and the sophistication of TOTAL theater

Last night I had the unique pleasure of visiting the campus of Cal Arts to see a student production of Lorca’s masterpiece, “The House of Alba”. In these troubled times marked by an aggressive, vulgar, simplistic, violent and shallow popular culture, it seems to me that Cal Arts have managed to nurture a completely different kind of culture. As this student production unveiled, I was witnessing the sophistication of TOTAL theater, a theater that engages the body, mind, emotions, voice, music and dance. A theater that is multilayered, where actors work 100% of the time, when they are in the spot light, and when they are in the shadows, A spectacular set design conquered part of the audience’s space connecting the European Spanish past and the contemporary American urban landscape. The light and sound design were wise, sensitive and nuanced. Although all the creators of this complex production were students, and while I could sense their considerable talents and abilities, it was clear to me, that they must have benefited from sophisticated instruction, as for example the voice work which obviously came out of the expert advise of Mr. Rafael Lopez-Barrantes who teaches there.

As I am an Oscar winning composer (for the musical film West bank Story), a receiver of various NEA and Rockefeller grants, site specific commissions such as from the Getty Museum and others, have extensive experience in scoring for theater, dance, film and TV and being an artist and scholar in resident in schools such as YALE, John Hopkins, UCLA, MIT and more, being at Cal Arts last night, boosted my optimism in the future. Here are the people who are striving for excellence, creativity, nuance and sophistication. How good it is to discover another point of light in America today!