In a collaboration among the CU Boulder College of Music and Program in Jewish Studies—as well as the Boulder Jewish Film Festival, Boulder Jewish Community Center and Congregation Har HaShem—renowned klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and celebrated silent film pianist Donald Sosin will present a “cine-concert” as part of a three-day residency, Nov. 7-9.
A “cine-concert” is a unique experience where a silent film comes to life with live music, all composed and performed by Svigals and Sosin. This main residency event—“The Man Without A World”—will be held Thursday, Nov. 9, at 6:30 p.m. at the Dairy Arts Center.
The residency includes two additional public events:
- Tuesday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m.: Community klezmer workshop with Svigals at Congregation Har HaShem.
- Wednesday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m.: CU Boulder SoundWorks will present Svigals and Sosin on a program including two of Svigals’ works arranged by composition alumnus Max Wolpert, and featuring an ensemble of CU Boulder string players directed by graduate student Enion Pelta-Tiller … and more.
As part of their residency, Svigals and Sosin will further present lectures, demonstrations and workshops for our string studios and composition seminar, and the Music in Jewish Cultures and Musical Styles & Ideas courses.
Svigals is returning to Boulder following several previous visits, including a 2017 screening of the silent film “The Yellow Ticket” with live music composed and performed by herself and pianist Marily Lerner; and the 2019 Archive Transformed residency, which included performances with Associate Professor of Music Theory Yonatan Malin and jazz pianist Uli Geissendoerfer, led by the late Professor of History and Jewish Studies David Shneer.
Violinist/composer Svigals is the world’s leading klezmer fiddler and a founder of the Grammy-winning Klezmatics. She has performed with and written for violinist Itzhak Perlman and has worked with the Kronos Quartet, playwrights Tony Kushner and Eve Ensler, poet Allen Ginsburg, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Debbie Friedman and Chava Albershteyn. Her newest CD—“Beregovski Suite: Klezmer Reimagined” with jazz pianist Uli Geissendoerfer—is an original take on long-lost Jewish music from Ukraine.
Pianist/composer Sosin received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Denver Silent Film Festival and the Best Original Film Score award from the 2022 Mystic Film Festival. He has performed his scores for silent films—often with his wife, singer/percussionist Joanna Seaton—at Lincoln Center, MoMA, BAM and the National Gallery; and at major film festivals in New York, San Francisco, Telluride, Hollywood, Yorkshire, Pordenone, Bologna, Shanghai, Bangkok, Berlin, Vienna, Moscow and Jecheon, South Korea … as well as many college campuses. Sosin has worked with Alexander Payne, Isabella Rossellini, Dick Hyman, Jonathan Tunick, Comden and Green, Martin Charnin, Mitch Leigh and Cy Coleman, and has played for Mikhael Baryshnikov, Mary Travers, Marni Nixon, Howie Mandel, Geula Gill and others.
Supported by the Roser Visiting Artist Program and the Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts.
