David Aaron Carpenter Launches New London Series Tonight

David Aaron Carpenter To Launch Central Synagogue's International Concerts Series, tonight, July 8th- London debut for 'the hottest violist of the 21st century' and his Salomé Chamber Orchestra soloists, with Music Of The Jewish Diaspora.

The details:

What: "Music of the Jewish Diaspora", featuring David Aaron Carpenter (viola) and soloists of the Salomé Chamber Orchestra. Works include Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words in G Minor; Hatikvah (traditional); Kreisler's Liebeslied, Caprice Viennois and Hora Staccato; Gershwin's Summertime; Oran Eldor's Sephardic Prayer; Alexey Shor's 740 Samba, Chicken Tarantella, Semi Canonical Great Feud and Murka Variations (by Shor and Eldor); Monti's Czardas; "Ljova" Lev Zhurbin's Budget Bulgar.

Where: Central Synagogue, 36 Hallam Street entrance (behind Great Portland Street), London W1W 6NW

When: Tuesday 8th July, 7pm

Booking: Tel 020 75801355 / email bookings@centralsynagogue.org.uk. All tickets £20.

"Whoever has heard, will never forget Israel's melodies, breaking forth into rejoicing, then cast down with sadness: bringing out their notes to the skies, then sinking into the abyss of grief...they convey the whole of Judah's history - his glorious past, his mournful present. His exalted future promised by God." Gustav Karpeles, "Jewish Literature and Other Essays", 1895

How does one define music of the Jewish Diaspora? All of the above, and more. In it you can hear the cries of exile, the joys of community, the assumption of other cultures and folk traditions, and the serious quest to advance an art form. The star American (and Jewish) violist David Aaron Carpenter - whose own family travelled from Iraq to Israel to the United States, where he was born - brings soloists from his New York Salomé Chamber Orchestra to explore the highs, and high emotions, of "Music of the Jewish Diaspora". Just as the Jewish people roamed for millennia, so this high-energy concert will freely tour across countries and continents and across time periods - from Mendelssohn to Heifetz to Gershwin, to dazzling new workings of ancient Sephardic prayers and Russian dances by Salomé's composers-in-residence Alexey Shor and Oran Eldor.

It is a fitting launch concert for the new International Concerts Series at Central Synagogue. Given that the idea of the family sits at the heart of Jewish culture, it is also apt that two of the soloists are David's brother, Sean, and his sister, Lauren, violinists both. This concert marks their London debuts.

David Aaron Carpenter is one of the most charismatic and admired young musicians of his generation. Called "stunningly talented" by The New Yorker, and "the hottest violist of the 21st Century" by cultural commentator Norman Lebrecht, Carpenter's great mentor Pinchas Zukerman has said, "It's like Pele with a football, or Federer with a tennis racket - that's David Aaron Carpenter with a viola". A Rolex Protégé, Carpenter regularly performs and records with leading orchestras and colleagues, among them the Berlin Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Philaldephia Orchestra, Christophe Eschenbach, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yo Yo Ma, Yuja Wang and Leonidas Kavakos (as well as pop artists such as Natasha Bedingfield, Rufus Wainwright and John Legend). He has played Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Pleyel and many other top venues. In 2014 he made worldwide news headlines by being selected by Sotheby's to play a series of concerts on the $45+ million Stradivarius "MacDonald" viola - about to be sold as the most expensive instrument in history.

The Salomé Chamber Orchestra is recognised as one of the most exciting young ensembles in New York and were recently resident at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Comprised of postgraduates from five of the top American music schools, they perform regularly with Carpenter, as well as other classical and pop stars such as Daniel Hope, Sharon Isbin, Michelle Williams and John Legend (with whom they played the opening night of Yahoo!'s recent "On The Road" tour, webcast live on the Yahoo!Music homepage). They have performed at venues as diverse as the Verbier Festival and Milk Studios in New York and have their own annual music festival in the East Hamptons.

"This concert feels very dear to me for all sorts of reasons," says Carpenter, "To make my London debut by reclaiming this iconic Jewish venue in this city that I love is very close to my heart, the more so because I feel this music. In many ways, my family and I are this music. It's our story. And you know what else? The music is great."

Details of the complete 2014/15 International Concerts Series will also be announced at the event.

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