Breaking Boundaries: Torn & Covered - NOSPR

Compositions by Yitzhak Yedid and Keiko Devaux have been recognized in the Azrieli Music Prize composition competition organized by the Canadian Azrieli Foundation. Devaux's Arras received the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music Award in 2020, and Yitzhak Yedid's Kadosh Kadosh and Cursed won the Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music. 

Arras by Keiko Devaux is a piece composed for a 14-member instrumental ensemble in which the Canadian composer explores complex and subtle sonic themes. The composition's name "Arras" refers to ornate tapestries. In the musical fabric, various sections of the chamber orchestra are interwoven in an exciting and evocative manner. Keiko Devaux masterfully blends different textures, creating a constantly changing narrative of the mutual intertwining of various elements. Her approach is unconventional, utilizing her skills to create dynamic contrasts and precise sound organization. She explores the theme of the relationship between opposites, simultaneously establishing disconnection and unity between musical elements. 

Kadosh Kadosh and Cursed by Yitzhak Yedid is a piece inspired by Jerusalem - a holy city filled with tensions, both blessed and cursed. This two-part work combines diverse compositional approaches from Arab, Jewish and European avant-garde traditions. Through sounds and musical structure, the composer transports listeners into the contrasting atmosphere of the city, uncovering its spiritual and musical richness. Yedid weaves a narrative of Jerusalem as a place that both attracts and repels. He describes his piece as a "meeting point between antiquity and modernity, as well as between history and contemporary events, both musically and philosophically." 

The concert will also feature Mark Andre's Riss 2, where the exploration of sounds at the threshold of audibility leads to discovering mysterious intermediate spaces. The composer seeks durability and presence that will both remain even after the sound disappears. The inspiration for creating the Riss (tear, rift, crack) cycle came from a symbolic element in the synoptic tradition, where at the moment of Jesus' death on the cross, the curtain of the Jerusalem temple tore from top to bottom. An important impulse for Mark Andre was also his meeting with theologian Margareta Gruber in Jerusalem and acoustic research in the Holy Sepulchre. While not sacred music, the composer recognizes significant dialectics in the theme of tearing, describing the closeness and distance, presence and absence of God. 

Alicja Molitorys 

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Concert duration: approximately 75 minutes