Gil Shaham Joins Orli Shaham for Jewish-Themed Violin and Piano Music at New York’s 92nd Street Y (April 16)

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“Shaham has emerged as a beacon not just of soloistic musicianship but of collaborative spirit.” – Financial Times (UK)

Following high-profile orchestral engagements on both sides of the Atlantic, Gil Shaham – “one of today’s pre-eminent violinists” (New York Times) – comes home to New York to team up with his sister, pianist Orli Shaham, for a recital of Jewish and Jewish-themed music at the 92nd Street Y on April 16. The program will feature selections from Joseph Achron, Ernest Bloch, George Perlman, and John Williams, as well as the world premiere of a new commission from Israeli composer Avner Dorman. The violinist also looks forward to resuming his all-Bach solo recital project in Baltimore (March 20); joining Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, in a historic concert celebrating the 120th anniversary of Carnegie Hall (May 5); and reprising the Walton concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra (May 12-20) and New York Philharmonic (June 16-18).

As Shaham explains, “Orli [Shaham] and I used to play together at home when we were kids, but we didn’t give concerts together until we were in our 20s. We avoided that for a long time because we were afraid it would look a bit too much like Donny and Marie Osmond! But finally we tried – and we loved it.” Their collaborations include two recordings for the violinist’s own Canary Classics label – The Prokofiev Album and Mozart in Paris; a recording for Deutsche Grammophon, Dvorák for Two; and numerous live engagements. After an appearance in Cleveland, the city’s Plain-Dealer found their performance “enchanting” and “involving from first note to last”

Now the American-Israeli siblings undertake a program of Jewish and Jewish-themed music at New York’s prestigious 92nd Street Y on April 16. The recital’s centerpiece is the world premiere of a new commission by Israeli composer Avner Dorman, who “writes with an omnivorous eclecticism that makes his music both accessible and impossible to pigeonhole. Themes with a modal, Middle Eastern accent often weave through sharp-edged, modernist harmonies; and the influences of jazz, pop and Indian music often crop up as well. Consistent hallmarks are the vigor of his writing and the virtuosity it demands of its interpreters” (Allan Kozinn, New York Times). Shaham describes how irresistibly he and his sister were drawn to Dorman’s new composition:

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