Ayre

Last night, a friend and I went to see Golijov's Ayre, performed by Soprano Dawn Upshaw and a brilliant group of CSO musicians. We were completely blown away. Dawn Upshaw is extraordinary in anything she does, but this was so different, such a stretch, combining classical operatic technique with wild, folk-inspired rhythms and tonalities. Golijov himself introduced the song-cycle, and his speech--along with the program notes--framed it as a rumination on the interweaving of Christian, Arab, and Jewish folk traditions, in Medieval Spain/the Middle East/North Africa, and the Jerusalem of today. An excerpt:

"I lived in Jerusalem for three years and was in contact with three cultures and their musics--Christian, Jewish, and Arab....In this song [Wa Habibi--My love], the melody is sung twice, but with Dawn uttering it in different ways. You go from a very Christian feeling to a completely Arabic feeling. I wanted to explore how little you have to change in order to cross the border from one culture to another." (Golijov)

After the performance, we had an opportunity to meet Golijov and the performers over beer and pizza. I have to say, the MusicNow series at CSO is absolutely the best thing going.
Salud!