Piyyut Festival 2010: Day Three

Beit Avi Chai presents the third Piyyut Festival. This year's performances highlight ancient, unique traditions that are not well known to the general public. The festival includes concerts, workshops, and tours.

In addition, thoughout the festival, the art installation exhibit "Visual Prayer" will be displayed in the Beit Avi Chai gallery. About the installation: What would happen if the letters of the alphabet prayed? If they dropped everything and meditated? This video installation, designed to create a mystical Jewish experience, incorporates audio and visual dimensions and uses of three main parts of the Jewish liturgy as mantras for spiritual elevation: the Shema, the Kaddish, and the Shemoneh Esreh.
Artist: Hagit Shimoni
Admission free

Schedule for Wednesday, September 15, 2010:

18:00: Workshop - Open a Gate for Us: Piyyut workshops in preparation for the Yom Kippur prayers, at Beit Avi Chai

Details:

Open a Gate for Us: Piyyut workshops in preparation for the Yom Kippur prayers according to different traditions
Three concurrent sessions with three leading paytanim and cantors from different Jewish traditions, who will share personal stories about the cantor's preparations for the High Holiday services and will teach piyyutim for Selichot and Yom Kippur.

Session 1: Ezra Barnea-Sephardic Jerusalem
Host: Yair Harel
Ezra Barnea, a native of the Bukharan neighborhood in Jerusalem, a cantor and paytan familiar with all the prayer and piyyut traditions of Jerusalem

Session 2: Binyamin Munk-The Ashkenazim
Host: Dr. Amit Klein
Cantor and rabbi Binyamin Munk is the director of the Jerusalem cantorial school and conductor of the Benevel Yeshurun choir.

Session 3: Israel Yemini-Yemen
Host: Dr. Uri Melamed
Cantor Israel Yemini, who comes from a family of paytanim and singers with roots in Sanaa and Manakha, learned the Yemenite poetic and cantorial tradition from his grandfather.

Wednesday, 7 Tishrei, September 15, 6 PM
BEIT AVI CHAI
Admission: NIS 30

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19:30: Concert - Hear Our Voice: Joint Selichot concert by cantors from Kiryat Yovel and Kiryat Menahem, at Beit Taylor, Kiryat Yovel

Concert details:

Hear Our Voice: A joint Selihot concert by cantors of synagogues in Kiryat Yovel and Kiryat Menahem
In the first concert of its kind, leading cantors from southwestern Jerusalem synagogues come together for a concert of High Holiday piyyutim from the traditions of Morocco and Sephardic Jerusalem.

Special guest: R. Meir Attia, who recorded "Shir Yedidut," a collection of Moroccan-Jewish piyyutim, for the first time
R. Haim Biton, cantor of the Shevet Ahim synagogue, Kiryat Yovel
R. Shimon Iluz, son of the late cantor R. Yitzhak Iluz of the Rambam synagogue, Kiryat Yovel
Maimon Cohen, High Holiday cantor in the Zakhor le-Avraham synagogue, Kiryat Menahem
Moshe Mor Yosef, cantor of the Beit Shlomo synagogue, Kiryat Yovel

Musical accompaniment:
Yosi Shriki, kamancha
Nir Shahal, ney and flute
Yitzik Chalfon, percussion
and others
Editing and artistic direction: Maimon Cohen

In the presence of rabbis:
R. David Simhon, rabbi of Kehilat Yuvalim
R. Michael Amos, rabbi of the Kiryat Menahem and Ir Ganim neighborhoods

In conjunction with the Yuvalim Community Administration

Wednesday, 7 Tishrei, September 15, 7:30 PM

Beit Taylor, 23 Zangwill St., Kiryat Yovel, Jerusalem

Admission: NIS 30

Tickets may be purchased at BEIT AVI CHAI or at extensions of the Yuvalim Community Administration. For information, call Etti at (02) 641-8344.

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20:00: Concert - From Desert and Sea: The piyyut tradition of Libyan Jewry, at Beit Avi Chai

Concert details:

From Desert and Sea: The piyyut tradition of Libyan Jewry

The Libyan-Jewish tradition of sacred song is presented in a special concert that brings together paytanim from the new generation of Libyan Jewry and an ensemble of leading Israeli ethnic musicians.
The 2500 years of Jewish life in Libya, at the crossroads of Arab, African, and desert cultures and in the shadow of Turkish and Italian influence, have yielded one of the oldest and most multifaceted traditions of piyyut and sacred song in the Jewish world. African groove and eastern rhythms and scales form the basis for the Libyan-Tripolitan tradition of sacred song and piyyut.

Refael Hayun, Yitzhak Hayun, and Ilan Zuarets, paytanim
Yaniv Raba, editing, arrangements, musical direction, and oud
Yankele Segal, arrangements, acoustic guitar, and bass guitar
Elad Gabay, qanun
Yitzhak Ventura, ney
Yinon Muallem, percussion
Moshe Nuri, percussion
Guest artist: Eli Luzon

Wednesday, 7 Tishrei, September 15, 8 PM
BEIT AVI CHAI courtyard
Admission: NIS 60, students: NIS 30
In conjunction with the Or Shalom Center for Preservation of the Tradition of Libyan Jews, Bat Yam

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20:30: Concert - The Eternal Topic: Piyyut as a foundation for modern Israeli music at the Henry Crown Symphony Hall, Jerusalem Theater

Concert details:

The Eternal Topic: Piyyut as a foundation for modern Israeli music
Original pieces for the symphonic orchestra based on piyyutim from diverse Jewish traditions.
The closing concert of the Israeli Music Celebration in collaboration with the Piyyut Festival and the Renanot Institute.
The first joint venture between the Israeli Music Celebration and the Piyyut Festival, at the center of which will be a large performance of original Israeli music that relates to the multicultural sources of piyyut as well as the music of various Jewish communities.

The program: Pieces based on traditional Jewish piyyutim
Nissim Khalifa-"Agadelcha" [I Will Make You Great] (based on a piyyut of Persian Jewish origin)
Paul Ben-Haim-"The Eternal Topic" for symphony orchestra
Hai Meirzadh-"Ayin Velev Yahdav" [The Eye and Heart Together] (based on Jewish Yemenite piyyutim)
Yosef Brandashvili-concerto for flute and orchestra
Adir Levy-"Dodi Yarad Legano" [My Beloved Went Down to His Orchard] (based on a Moroccan Jewish piyyut)
Dan Deutsch-"Mipi El" [From the Mouth of the Lord] (based on a number of versions of piyyutim from various traditions)

Soloists: Aharon Amram, Lior Almaliah, and Morin Nehedar
Yossi Arnheim, flute
The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Israel Broadcasting Authority

Conductor: Daniel Cohen

Program and artistic director: Michael Wolpe (artistic director of the Israeli Music Celebration) and Yair Harel (artistic director of the Piyyut Festival)
Professional consultant: Prof. Eytan Avitzur (Renanot)
Production: Paul Landau (Israel Music Institute)
Executive producer: Rosalia Heifetz Productions

Wednesday, 7 Tishrei, September 15, 8:30 PM
Henry Crown Symphony Hall, Jerusalem Theater
Admission free; advanced registration necessary

Tickets are available from the Jerusalem Theater box office, (02) 560-5755.

The performance was initiated by the Israel Council of Culture and Art and the Culture Administration (Music Department) of the Israel Ministry of Culture and Sports, in collaboration with the Israel Broadcasting Authority, Voice of Music; the Israeli Music Celebration/Israel Music Institute, and the Piyyut Festival, and with the support of Renanot-The Institute for Jewish Music.