Contemporary Classical Guitarist Nadav Lev Premieres Sephardic Works February 3, 2008

From the Kibbutz to Carnegie Hall, Israeli guitarist Nadav Lev makes his New York City debut with a special recital dedicated to modernizing the canon of authentic, folklore music. Co-presented by Artists International and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, the concert includes two premieres of Sephardic works by Israeli composers Ruben Seroussi and Jonathan Keren; the world premiere of composer/collaborative artist David Homans To The Door for soprano and guitar; guest artists Alma Moshonov (soprano) and Cordelia Hagmann (violin); and a peppering of guitar works by John Dowland, Fernando Sor, Manuel De Falla, Malcolm Arnold, Manuel M. Ponce, and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
In an effort to honor his cultural identity and Jewish tradition in the 21st century, Nadav Lev preserves his traditional roots of the Sephardic Jews on a fresh, innovative musical landscape. Receiving its American premiere, Seroussis Two Sephardic Songs for Guitar presents two of the most well known Sephardic romanzasYo menamori dun aire (I fell in love with her charms) and Morenica (Black Beauty). According to Seroussi, these arrangements were taken from the tradition of the Sephardic Jews from Turkey, Greece and the Balkans. I tried to capture the fresh, modal features rooted in an Oriental ensemble heterophony. Emerging New York-based composer Jonathan Keren premieres Three Sephardic Songs, featuring Moshonov singing in Ladino, and Hagmann on violin. Like many other folk songs, they contain a very specific and deep human emotion that is universally inspiring, explains Keren. And so I try to merge my personal perspective and contemporary musical outlook with the universal position and traditional background from which these songs originally come from.
A 2006 Andres Segovia Award winner, Nadav Lev is the only guitarist to ever win the America-Israel Cultural Foundation prestigious Special Award for Studies Abroad. His playing has been described as having incredible tone and effortless fluid technique creating[ed] magic on stage, (Classical Guitar at Yahoo). Lev studied at the Rubin Academy in Tel-Aviv, and received his masters in guitar performance at the Manhattan School of Music. Most recently, he received the 2006 Andres Segovia Award. For everything else, visit http://www.nadavlev.com.

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