MasterVoices Premieres Multimedia Version of Handel's ISRAEL IN EGYPT

A major highlight of MasterVoices' 77th season will take place on Wednesday, November 28 at 8 pm in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium when the ensemble's Artistic Director Ted Sperling leads the New York premiere of a multi-media version of Israel in Egypt, Handel's timely oratorio of exile and displacement, reflecting the biblical account of the heroic flight of Israelites enslaved in Pharaonic Egypt and their crossing the Red Sea. In collaboration with The Juilliard School, MasterVoices will feature soloists who are current students or alumni from the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, including sopranos Mikaela Bennett and Jessica Niles, countertenor John Holiday, baritone Gregory Feldmann and bass-baritone Erik Van Heyningen, as well as rising star tenor Andrew Stenson.

The program will also feature the New York Baroque Incorporated period instrument ensemble and Syrian Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad. Mourad will create a combination of pre-composed film and in-the-moment paintings that bring a personal perspective to the work's universal theme of displacement and the entrenched human instinct to return home. Commented the artist, "This story is very familiar to me because of my Armenian background. My ancestors were forced to leave their homes 100 years ago and were welcomed by Syrians. And now this has happened to the Syrians: almost half the population has been forced to leave their homes. The story of the Exodus is mirrored in the refugee crisis in the country of my birth, Syria, and many other countries around the world, where people are forced out of their homes due to violence and economic hardship. History is repeating itself, and the idea of finding a new home, the right to safety, is something that resonates with me, the descendant of refugees."

Kevork Mourad, a member of the Silk Road Ensemble as a visual artist, is known for making fantastical paintings in spontaneous collaboration with performing artists. His process for Israel in Egypt involves a technique of live painting that will be projected onto the walls of the concert hall, combined with animated sequences. This production was commissioned by Los Angeles Master Chorale, which premiered it in February 2018 at Walt Disney Hall. Mourad was also commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to create a performance to accompany their Armenia! exhibit. That performance, featuring world-class musicians and the music of Vache Sharafyan, will be shown November 2nd, 2018.

A short video with sketches and animation created by the artist for Israel in Egypt can be viewed by clicking here.

Image: Kevork Mourad works for Israel in Egypt

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