David Strongin, violin
Uriah Tutter, cello
Elisha Kravitz, piano
In tribute to October 7, 2023, the Delyria Trio returns to Villa Seligmann for the sixth anniversary with a special program. The program focuses on works of variations based on Israeli and Jewish themes. It features 20th-century composers such as Paul Ben-Haim, Mieczysław Weinberg, and Ursula Mamlok, as well as contemporary composers Shalom Hanoch and Michael Wolpe.
Australian composer Lee Bradshaw discovered the Delyria Trio at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and decided to dedicate a work to the three Israeli musicians that combines their cultural and religious heritage with their affinity for contemporary innovation. The result is a four-movement work of epic scope that pushes the performers to their technical and emotional limits and serves as the centerpiece of the program. On the night of October 6–7, 2023, Bradshaw chose the verse “Mi Ha’Ish” (“Who is man”) from Psalm 34 as the title. It reads:
Who is the person who loves life / and wishes to see good days?
Keep your tongue from evil / and your lips from false speech!
Shun evil and do good; / seek peace and pursue it!
Through the musical abstraction of “Mi ha’Ish,” Trio Delyria pays a deeply moving and personal tribute to the tragic events of October 7, 2023. The program oscillates between emotional depths and sublime heights through works by Berlin-born composers Ursula Mamlok and Michael Wolpe. The tragedy of war and the Shoah also come to the fore in the works of Paul Ben-Haim and Mieczysław Weinberg. The program is rounded out by an arrangement of the well-known Israeli song “Shir Lelo Shem” (Song Without a Title), which—through the story of Israeli pianist Alon Ohel’s captivity by Hamas—has become a national symbol of hope and the healing power of music.
