YIVO Revives an Influential Work of the Past: Joel Engel's "Jewish Folksongs" Volumes I & II

The First Classical Composition to Include Yiddish Folksongs

(New York, NY) – On Tuesday, November 10, 2020, at 1:00pm (ET), YIVO will host a digital premiere performance of Joel Engel's "Jewish Folksongs" Volumes I & II, the first classical compositions to employ Yiddish folksongs. These 20 arrangements inspired the Society for Jewish Folk Music and the composers affiliated with it to create a vast oeuvre of similar work. Engel's work also influenced other composers who used Yiddish folksongs in their music including, famously, Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes. Despite the importance of Engel’s work, it is little known today, and there are no available recordings of the complete collection of these songs.

These 20 songs will be performed by singer Lucy Fitz Gibbon with pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, with a special guest appearance by Yurie Mitsuhashi.

When: Tuesday, November 10, 2020 | 1:00pm (ET)
Where: facebook.com/yivoinstitute and youtube.com/yivoinstitute
Information Available at: yivo.org/Engel-Jewish-Folksongs

This program is part of the Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series. The Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series is made possible by a generous gift from the Estate of Sidney Krum.

This program is also supported by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

For more information contact:
Alex Weiser
Director of Public Programs

THE PERFORMERS

Soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon and pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough have been making music together since 2006, giving their first joint recital in Sacramento, California, in 2009. As both musical and life partners, Fitz Gibbon and McCullough bring an intimacy to their performances that speaks to their many years of collaboration. The husband-and-wife duo has performed throughout North America and Europe in such venues as New York's Merkin Hall, Park Avenue Armory, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Di Menna Center; London's Wigmore Hall; and Toronto's Koerner Hall. Their growing joint discography includes forthcoming CDs with Albany Records (Descent/Return, featuring works by John Harbison and James Primosch, and another featuring the collected works of Sheila Silver alongside luminaries Dawn Upshaw, Stephanie Blythe, and Gilbert Kalish) and Acte Préalable (mid-century Polish art song).

Committed to the performance of contemporary works alongside the art song canon, Fitz Gibbon and McCullough have worked closely with emerging and established composers alike. Among the body of works dedicated to them are compositions by Niccolo Athens (Five Poems of Sara Teasdale), Dante De Silva (A Year of Strife), Andrew Hsu (Reticence), Anna Lindemann (The Colony), Pablo Ortiz (California Songs), and Alan Louis Smith (Surfing the Thin Places). They have also given premieres of works by John Harbison (Seven Poems of Lorraine Niedecker) and James Primosch (Descent/Return, The Pitcher, The Old Astronomer​) and have worked closely with Sheila Silver on numerous projects. Through the guidance and research of musicologist Mackenzie Pierce, Fitz Gibbon and McCullough have given the US premieres of numerous works by mid-20th century Polish composers ranging from the early and late works of Roman Palester (Three Songs to Texts of Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna, Monogramy) and a modern setting of 16th century religious texts (Tadeusz Kassern's Tryptyk żałobny), as well as songs by Grażyna Bacewicz and Alexander Tansman (Ponctuation Française). They have also brought new life to Milton Babbit's lyrical Du and Adela Maddison's lush Cinq mélodies, while championing long-form songs by Schubert (Viola, Vergissmeinnicht) and Prokofiev (The Ugly Duckling).

YIVO

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is dedicated to the preservation and study of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide. For nearly a century, YIVO has pioneered new forms of Jewish scholarship, research, education, and cultural expression. Our public programs and exhibitions, as well as online and on-site courses, extend our outreach to a global community. The YIVO Archives contains 24 million unique items and YIVO’s Library has over 400,000 volumes—the single largest resource for the study of East European Jewish life in the world. yivo.org / yivo.org/the-whole-story