YIVO Hosts an Evening of Sephardic Art Song

(New York, NY) – On Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 7:00pm (ET), the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research will host a recital of Sephardic art songs, offering a captivating glimpse into Sephardic culture and history. The concert will take place at YIVO (located in the Center for Jewish History building at 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY). It will also be available to view on Zoom.

Dr. Lori Şen will present an overview of the history, language, and culture of Sephardim, the development of the Sephardic art song genre, and its musical elements and stylistic features. Zoë Johnstone Stewart (guitar) and Andrew Stewart (piano) will join Lori for the recital portion and will present a variety of songs by Alberto Hemsi, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Lazare Saminsky, Joaquín Rodrigo, Joaquín Nin-Culmell, Manuel García Morante, Yehezkel Braun, Jose Antonio de Donostia, Daniel Akiva, Matilde Salvador, Ulrike Merk, among others.

This concert is co-sponsored by the American Sephardi Federation. It is part of the Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series, which is made possible by a generous gift from the Estate of Sidney Krum.

What:            An Evening of Sephardic Art Song
When:           Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at 7:00pm ET
Where:          Taking Place on Zoom and in person at YIVO, Located in the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011)
Cost:              In person: General Admission: $15 / Students and YIVO Members: $10
                       Zoom Livestream: Free
Reservations Available at:  yivo.org/Sephardic-Song

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

For more information contact:
Shelly Freeman
Chief of Staff

About the Performers

Turkish mezzo-soprano and Fulbright alumna Dr. Lori Şen is a distinguished performer and scholar, acclaimed for her expertise in vocal literature, pedagogy, and voice science. A leading authority on Sephardic Art Song, she pioneered the cataloging of Western classical settings of Sephardic folk songs and developed a Ladino diction guide for singers. Through captivating recitals and scholarly lectures, she has illuminated the rich tapestry of Sephardic Art Song for audiences worldwide. With a background in physics, she uniquely bridges art and science to explore the singing voice, combining artistic sensitivity with scientific curiosity. Dr. Şen is Assistant Professor of Vocal Pedagogy at Shenandoah University and serves on the voice faculty of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. For more info: www.lorisen.com

Zoë Johnstone Stewart is a performer and educator in the Baltimore area. She is a founding member of the Atlantic Guitar Quartet, and her recent solo engagements include a performance with the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Annapolis Chorale, Marlow Guitar International, the Naval Academy Band Recital Series with oboist Emily Madsen, and as part of the Baltimore Classical Guitar “Made In Baltimore” concert of new works for guitar. She is currently Chair of the Preparatory Guitar Department at the Peabody Institute, Director of Fret Fest and Summer Guitar Intensive, instructor of Guitar Pedagogy at Peabody Conservatory, and in 2023 received the Preparatory’s Excellence in Teaching Award.

Hailed as “a singer’s dream” by Gramophone Magazine, pianist Andrew Stewart has given thousands of performances across a wide spectrum of musical genres, with extensive work in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as in New York, California, Italy, Ireland, and Greece. He is on the faculty at Goucher College, the Peabody Preparatory, and the St. Paul’s Schools, and is a longstanding accompanist for Maryland Opera. He was the accompanist at Temple Shalom near Washington, D.C. from 2009 to 2022 and is currently the music director at Har Sinai – Oheb Shalom Congregation in Baltimore. Discography and further information at andrewstewartpiano.com.

YIVO

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, now in its Centennial year, is dedicated to the preservation and study of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide. For 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