ESSENTIAL VOICES USA
Judith Clurman, Music Director and Conductor
April 23,2012
For immediate release
Contact: EVUSA @ essentialvoicesusa@gmail.com
Essential Voices USA
& The Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at HUC-JIR
present
THE COMPOSER SPEAKS
a workshop performance
Choral Music by Larry Hochman, Bruce L. Ruben & Paul Schoenfield
Essential Voices USA
Students from HUC-JIR
Todd Palmer Clarinet Kathryn Andersen Violin
Michael Dahlberg Cello Stacey Shames Harp
Judith Clurman Conductor
May 10, 2012 at 7pm
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
(One West Fourth Street @ Broadway, NYC)
This event will feature workshop performances of new choral works by Tony Award winner (Book of Mormon
orchestrations) Larry Hochman; Cantor Bruce L. Ruben; Director of the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at
HUC-JIR; and Paul Schoenfield, esteemed American composer and University of Michigan faculty member.
Performers will include professional and volunteer members of Essential Voices USA, select singers from HUC, and
instrumentalists Todd Palmer, Clarinet; Kathryn Andersen, Violin; Michael Dahlberg, Cello; and Stacey Shames,
Harp.
The concert will feature the world premiere of Larry Hochman’s Prayer, a reworking of his Holocaust orchestral
work for piano and chamber musicians along with selections from Songs of Freedom: A Celebration of Chanukah,
the renowned arrangement of Chanukah songs by Larry Hochman, Judith Clurman, and Brian Stokes Mitchell.
The world premiere of Cantor Ruben’s Circle of Life (Baruch Haba, Adonai Maon, Ivdu) will follow. The program
will conclude with several works by Paul Schoenfield, including selections from his A Cappella Motets, his setting
of Al Hanisim, and an excerpt from his oratorio Channah for chorus and four-hand piano, with Hochman and
Schoenfield on piano.
The Composer Speaks is a series of concerts in workshop format presented by Essential Voices USA. At each
concert, musical selections are first presented and performed in different formats, and each composer then
discusses musical choices and compositional techniques with conductor Judith Clurman. Audience members are
encouraged to ask questions and become part of the dialogue. In 2011, EVUSA presented works in this format by
Shulamit Ran. In May 2012 they are presenting works by Larry Hochman, Bruce L. Ruben, Paul Schoenfield, and
Joshua Schmidt.
This one-time-only event will take place on Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 7 PM in the HUC-JIR Minnie Petrie Chapel,
One West Fourth Street in Manhattan.
Tickets are $20.00 available online, at www.essentialvoices.com, or can be purchased at the door (cash only).
Photo ID is required for entry to the building.
Artists and Repertoire are subject to change.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Larry Hochman received the Tony Award in 2011 for his orchestrations for the Broadway hit musical The Book of
Mormon. He has also received Tony nominations for Best Orchestrations of Monty Python's Spamalot (also Drama
Desk nomination), Fiddler on the Roof, The Scottsboro Boys, and A Class Act. He has written orchestrations for The
Addams Family and Jane Eyre, as well as additional orchestrations for many other Broadway shows, including
Shrek, The Little Mermaid, Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life, and King David (Alan Menken & Tim Rice). He is the
composer for Nickelodeon's hit series The Wonder Pets, for which he has received four Emmy awards, and has
composed additional music for Disney's Little Mermaid II. He has composed and arranged music for two episodes
of Spielberg's Amazing Stories and several TV documentaries, as well as the films Not for Publication, The
Watchman, and Alaska (Omnimax film). His orchestrations for eighteen films include Marvin Hamlisch's The
Informant! and Disney's Lady and the Tramp II. Larry has arranged the recordings and concerts for Sir Paul
McCartney, Not the Messiah (Eric Idle), Mandy Patinkin, Audra McDonald, Marvin Hamlisch, Brian Stokes Mitchell,
Barry Manilow, Dawn Upshaw, Maury Yeston, Andrea Burns, Marin Mazzie, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet's
Reflections on Duke Ellington (Decca Records), “A Sondheim Medley” (authorized by Mr. Sondheim), Michael
Feinstein, Betty Buckley, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops Orchestra, Thomas Dolby,
Amanda McBroom, Andre de Shields, and The Big Apple Circus. Larry trained as a classical musician, and his
orchestral work In Memoriam received its world premiere in Berlin (1994) and its US premiere with the Manhattan
Chamber Orchestra. (www.larryhochman.net)
Cantor Bruce L. Ruben was raised in Portland, Oregon. After receiving a Bachelor of Music and Master of Religious
Studies at Indiana University (Bloomington), Cantor Ruben studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York,
where he was ordained as a cantor in 1981. A year later he came to Temple Shaaray Tefila, NYC, where he served
as cantor for twenty-four years. During that time he presented numerous special music events with his
professional and volunteer choirs, wrote and commissioned many compositions, and taught adult education
courses on the history of Jewish music, Jewish History, Liturgy, and other subjects. In 1997 he received a Ph.D. in
History from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His dissertation was a biography of Rabbi Dr.
Max Lilienthal, an early leader of the American Reform Movement. In July of 2006 Cantor Ruben became the
Director of the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. His
book, Max Lilienthal: The Making of the American Rabbinate, was recently published by Wayne State University
Press. Some of his numerous musical compositions have been published by the Union for Reform Judaism and the
American Conference of Cantors. Cantor Ruben was an adjunct professor in history at Hunter College for over
fifteen years, where he taught classes in World History, Modern Jewish History, and the Holocaust. He has also
been a leader in the Yorkville Christian-Jewish Council, and has served on the Joint Cantorial Placement
Commission and the board of the American Conference of Cantors.
Paul Schoenfield, a native of Detroit, began playing the piano at age six and wrote his first composition the
following year. In addition to studying piano with Julius Chajes, Ozan Marsh, and Rudolf Serkin, he holds an
undergraduate degree from Carnegie-Mellon University and a Doctor of Music Arts degree from the University of
Arizona. He taught in Toledo, Ohio, lived on a kibbutz in Israel, and was a free-lance composer and pianist in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul area before moving to Cleveland. He is now on the faculty of the University of Michigan. Dr.
Schoenfield has received commissions and grants from the NEA, the Ohio Arts Commission, Chamber Music
America, the Rockefeller Fund, the Minnesota Commissioning Club, American Composers Forum, Soli Deo Gloria of
Chicago, The Juilliard School -- for its centennial -- and many other organizations and individuals. As a pianist, he
has toured the United States, Europe, and South America as a soloist and with numerous groups including Music
from Marlboro. His recordings as a pianist include the complete violin and piano works of Bartok with Sergiu Luca.
His compositions can be heard on the Angel, Decca, Innova, Vanguard, EMI, Koch, BMG, and New World labels. A
man of many interests, Paul Schoenfield is also an avid scholar of mathematics and Hebrew.
(www.paulschoenfield.org)
Judith Clurman has conducted and collaborated with world-renowned orchestras, dance companies, and music
festivals, including the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Boston Symphony, New York City
Ballet, Mostly Mozart Festival, Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the American
Songbook Series, and the New York Pops on their Carnegie Hall subscription series. She served as Director of
Choral Activities at the Juilliard School from 1989-2007, as Co-Director for Harvard University’s Leonard Bernstein:
Boston to Broadway Festival, and vocal specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts/Columbia University
Institute of Classical Music, and as a Visiting Artist/Conductor at Cambridge University, the Curtis Institute of
Music, and the Janacek Academy in the Czech Republic. She created and for nine years served as the music
director and conductor of the Lincoln Center Tree Lighting and commissioned and premiered works by America’s
most revered composers. As Associate Music Director of Sesame Street, her work with The Muppets, cast
members, and guest artists earned her a 2009 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction
and Composition. Judith served as founding conductor of the New York Concert Singers and Project Youth Chorus
and as music director of Prism Concerts and the 92nd Street Y’s Music of the Spirit program. Judith currently
conducts Essential Voices USA and maintains an active vocal studio in New York City. She is pleased to return to
Hebrew Union College, where she previously served on the faculty. Her resume is quite extensive in the world of
Jewish sacred music, and she has conducted the premieres of music written for her by Tzi Avni, Yehezkel Braun,
David Diamond, Miriam Gideon, Larry Grossman, Shulamit Ran, Stephen Richards, Simon Sargon, Paul Schoenfield,
and Lazar Weiner. She has also served as guest conductor at the Zimriya in Israel, and recently coached cantorial
students at the Abraham Geiger Kolleg in Berlin, Germany. (www.judithclurman.com)
Essential Voices USA (EVUSA) promotes the love of music and the art of ensemble singing. The group is best
known for its musical excellence, innovative programming, and emphasis on education, and for its director,
acclaimed conductor Judith Clurman. The group has a flexible roster of professional singers, auditioned volunteers,
and high school students who perform a wide range of musical genres and styles. The size of the group varies
according to the musical needs of each project. EVUSA is currently in residence with the New York Pops at
Carnegie Hall, and also produces its own classical concerts, workshops, and recordings. During their 2010-2011
season, EVUSA participated in the Bernstein celebration at Symphony Space, sang world premieres in the Shulamit
Ran “Composer Speaks” concert at Hebrew Union College, and performed as part of the 80th Birthday Carnegie
Hall concert honoring Stephen Sondheim. In addition, they recorded Sing Out Mr. President, a choral cycle
featured on National Public Radio, with music ranging from Milton Babbitt to musical theater composer Jason
Robert Brown. The 2011-2012 season features three appearances with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall: John
Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey’s Wish You A Swingin’ Christmas (Dec. 16 & 17), Hollywood Award Winners (April
13), and A Tribute to Jim Henson’s Musical World (April 14); a pair of "The Composer Speaks" workshops: vocal and
choral works by Larry Hochman, Bruce Ruben, and Paul Schoenfield at Hebrew Union College (May 10), and “Grass
Roots American Melancholy,” a birthday tribute to Walt Whitman with music by Joshua Schmidt (May 31). In
addition, EVUSA was featured on NBC Television at the 2011 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting.
(www.essentialvoicesusa.com)
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the intellectual, academic, spiritual, and professional
leadership development center of Reform Judaism. The Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, directed by
Cantor Dr. Bruce L. Ruben, offers a five-year program of full-time graduate study leading to the degree of Master
of Sacred Music and investiture as a cantor. The all-encompassing program prepares students for the 21st-century
cantorate, with courses in liturgical music, general musicianship, Judaica, and professional development. The
school’s faculty are among the finest exponents of the diversity of liturgical music, ranging from Eastern European
chazzanut to Classical Reform choral repertoire to the contemporary folk idiom. (http://huc.edu)
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