Five Hebrew Love Songs : Soprano Solo with Piano, Violin, and Tambourine

In 2001, the University of Miami commissioned me to adapt the songs for SATB chorus and string quartet, and the Efroni Choir in Israel commissioned me to adapt them for SA, violin, and piano, leaving me with five different versions of the same work: SATB and string quartet; SATB, violin, and piano; SA and string quartet; SA, violin, and piano; and the original soprano, violin, and piano. Each of the songs captures a moment that Hila and I shared together. Kalá kallá (which means “light bride”) was a pun I came up with while she was first teaching me Hebrew. The bells at the beginning of Éyze shélleg are the exact pitches that awakened us each morning in Germany as they rang from a nearby cathedral.