Cellist Inbal Segev
Performs the World Premiere of
Legend of Sigh
Composed by Gity Razaz
Visuals by Carmen Kordas
Watch an Excerpt of the Workshop:
http://bit.ly/LegendofSighExcerpt
Friday, February 19, 2016 at 7pm
National Sawdust
80 N 6th St | Brooklyn, NY
Tickets: $25 at www.nationalsawdust.org
Inbal Segev: www.inbalsegev.com
New York, NY – On Friday, February 19, 2016 at 7pm at National Sawdust (80 N 6th St), cellist Inbal Segev, known for her “warm, pure and beautiful tone” (Strings Magazine) will give the world premiere performance of Legend of Sigh, a brand new multimedia, immersive piece for cello and electronics written for her by composer Gity Razaz with video and projection design by filmmaker Carmen Kordas. Legend of Sigh was workshopped in May 2015 as part of VisionIntoArt’s second annual FERUS Festival at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. The program will also include Razaz’ Valley of Not-Knowing performed by Debbie Lifton, soprano; Jesse Blumberg, baritone; Lidiya Yankovskaya, conductor; Michael Smith, piano; Paul Wiancko, cello; and Pascal Archer, clarinetist. This concert is part of Razaz’s appointment as composer-in-residence at National Sawdust.
Legend of Sigh explores the themes of birth, transformation, and death through the retelling of an old Azerbaijani folktale about a mysterious being, Sigh, who appears every time someone lets out a heartfelt sigh, unknowingly calling out to him. In composer Gity Razaz’s adapted version, the main character is a widow, who despite her wealth and social status, lives in isolation and loneliness. Overwhelmed with discontent and a desire to end her life, she unknowingly calls upon Sigh. With his help, she is transformed into the body of another woman, receiving another chance at life only to become disillusioned again. With the help of Sigh, the woman travels through numerous lives, learning more about the human spirit each time through her experiences.
Of working with Razaz and Kordas on this new piece, Inbal Segev says, “The collaboration among Gity, Carmen, and me felt right from the very beginning, perhaps due to the fact that we are all expatriates and perhaps because we are all strong women and the subject matter of the piece has a lot to do with that,” said Segev. “I am thrilled with the end result and with Legend of Sigh, my first multimedia collaboration.”
About Inbal Segev: Cellist Inbal Segev’s playing has been described as “characterized by a strong and warm tone… delivered with impressive fluency and style,” by The Strad and “first class,” “richly inspired,” and “very moving indeed,” by Gramophone. Equally committed to new repertoire and masterworks, Segev brings interpretations that are both unreservedly natural and insightful to the vast range of music she performs.
Segev released her recording of the complete Cello Suites of J.S. Bach in fall 2015 on the Vox label, to critical acclaim and a spot on The New York Times Classical Playlist. Audiences have the opportunity to look behind the scenes at the making of Segev’s album through a companion documentary film about her journey through the music of Bach. She has performed Bach’s Cello Suites in venues around the world including Lincoln Center and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Shanghai Concert Hall, and Henry Crown Hall in the Jerusalem Theatre.
Inbal Segev has performed as soloist with orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Castleton Festival Orchestra with Lorin Maazel, Bogotá Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Dortmund Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Polish National Radio Symphony, and the Bangkok Symphony. She made debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic, led by Zubin Mehta, at age 17.
Segev’s repertoire includes all of the standard concerti and solo works for cello, as well as new pieces and rarely performed gems. She has recently premiered cello concertos by Avner Dorman and Lucas Richman. Segev gave the U.S. premiere of English composer Sir Arthur Sullivan’s Cello Concerto in D Major. She performed jazz composer David Baker’s cello concerto in New York, and was the first cellist to perform Henri Dutilleux’s challenging Trois strophes sur le nom de Sacher for solo cello at Carnegie Hall. Commissioning new repertoire for the cello is a priority for Segev; current projects include new works by composers Gity Razaz, Timo Andres, Fernando Otero, and Dan Visconti.
Inbal Segev is a founding member of the Amerigo Trio with former New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and violist Karen Dreyfus. She has collaborated with artists such as Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Jeremy Denk, Anthony McGill, Gilbert Kalish, Michael Tree, Anne Akiko Meyers, and the Vogler Quartet. Festival appearances include the Banff, Ravinia, Bowdoin, Olympic, and Cape & Islands festivals in North America; the Siena, Rolandseck, and Montpellier festivals in Europe; and the Jerusalem Music Center and Upper Galilee festivals in Israel.
In addition to her new Bach album, Segev’s discography includes Lucas Richman’s Three Pieces for Cello and Orchestra with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Albany), Sonatas by Beethoven and Boccherini (Opus One), Nigun (Vox), and Max Schubel’s Concerto for Cello and Horn (Opus One). With the Amerigo Trio she has recorded serenades by Dohnányi (Navona).
Inbal Segev’s many honors include the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and top prizes at the Pablo Casals, Paulo, and Washington International Competitions. She began playing the cello in Israel at age five and at 16 was invited by Isaac Stern to come to the U.S. to continue her studies. She earned degrees from The Juilliard School and Yale University.
Inbal Segev lives in New York City with her husband and three children. Her cello was made by Francesco Ruggieri in 1673. For more information, visit www.inbalsegev.com.
About Gity Razaz: Hailed by the New York Times as “ravishing and engulfing,” composer Gity Razaz’s music ranges from concert solo pieces to large symphonic works. She is an active collaborator involved in projects across disciplines from modern dance to electro-acoustic soundscapes. Razaz’s music has been commissioned and performed by VisionIntoArt, Metropolis Ensemble, cellist Jeffrey Zeigler formerly of the Kronos Quartet, National Ballet School of Canada, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, Plurimo ensemble and Agimus Venezia, New York Choreographic Institute, American Festival for the Arts, Amsterdam Cello Biennale, and Sirius String Quartet among others. Her compositions have earned numerous national and international awards, such as the 2013 Jerome Foundation award, the Libby Larsen Prize in 28th International Search for New Music Competition, Juilliard Composers’ Orchestra Competition, three ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer awards, Juilliard’s Palmer Dixon Award, as well as special recognition from the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, ASCAP, the Brian Israel Composition Prize, Margaret Blackburn Memorial Competition, the League of Composers (ISCM), and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Razaz attended The Juilliard School on full scholarship, and received her Bachelor and Master of Music in Composition under the tutelage of Samuel Adler, Robert Beaser and John Corigliano. For more information, visit www.gityrazaz.com.
About Carmen Kordas: Carmen Kordas was born in Germany and has been based in New York since 1998. Her work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and Europe. Coming out of video installations, her work has now developed into a wide range of disciplines: multimedia art and video projection for theater, opera and performance. Her work has been exhibited in VideoFestival in Munich, Freiberg, Berlin, Bochum, Dresden, and Arnheim, Netherlands. Kordas holds a MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin where she studied visual communication, digital editing, and three dimensional video sculpting with Valie Export. For more information, visit www.videoartcarmenkordas.com.
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