Baritone HOLZMAIR performs Laitman's The Seed of Dream in Native Austria

Holzmair to Perform Laitman’Äôs The Seed of Dream in Native Austria

"Lori Laitman has a great gift for song-writing and these songs skillfully employ a variety of styles to convey the pathos of the Holocaust."

American Record Guide, 2008

"This cycle is indeed a masterpiece that should not be missed!"

Journal of Singing, 2008

For Immediate Release

January 25, 2009

Wolfgang Holzmair, the renowned Austrian baritone, will perform 'The Seed of Dream' by American composer Lori Laitman in the town of Mˆºrzzuschlag, Austria, on February 25th, 2009. The program also includes works by Schubert and Haydn.

Laitman's song cycle for baritone, cello and piano is based on five poems penned in Nazi-occupied Lithuania by the pre-eminent Yiddish poet Abraham Sutzkever. Sutzkever's poetry, written in the Vilna Ghetto during the war, stands witness to the transcendent power of art in the face of unimaginable cruelty and brutality. The cycle was commissioned by Music of Remembrance and saw its world premiere in Seattle, Washington in 2005 to glowing reviews. It was performed for the first time in Europe at The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum in Vilna, Lithuania in 2007 by Norwegian baritone Stein Skjervold. It has also generated excitement and interest among some of the world's most prestigious vocalists, and continues to receive performances the world over.

Of the cycle, The Journal of Singing writes: "The American song composer, Lori Laitman, has been lauded by reviewers as one of the most extraordinary song composers working today, likening her to Ned Rorem. She has an innate ability to capture the essence of textual meaning, a keen perception of vocal nuance, and a lavish intellectual and musical vocabulary that she uses with a facile ease. It was with all of these extraordinary skills that she created a magnificent song cycle called ’ÄòThe Seed of Dream’Äô.’Äù

In 2008 the cycle was released on Naxos, along with works by Jake Heggie and Gerard Schwarz.

The Jess-Trio-Wien and Wolfgang Holzmair will perform ’ÄòThe Seed of Dream’Äô at Kunsthaus Muerz, Anton Webern Saal in Mˆºrzzuschlag, Austria, on February 25th at 7:30 pm. For more information please visit www.kunsthausmuerz.at

Source:

Jona Rapoport Artist Management/Publicity

jona@jonarapoport.com