Date: 2017
INSTRUMENTATION: solo alto saxophone
COMMISSION: Gail Levinsky
DEDICATION: Commissioned by Gail Levinsky and dedicated to her parents, Roslyn and Herbert Levinsky, for their unwavering love and support.
PREMIERE: March 3, 2017 Gail Levinsky at the Music by Women Festival, Mississippi University for Women, Connie Sills Kossen Auditorium, Columbus, Mississippi
DURATION: ca. 7:00
PUBLICATION: American Composers Alliance
PROGRAM NOTE:
Quiet Hearts: A Kaddish (2017) for solo alto saxophone was written for Dr. Gail Levinsky and is
dedicated to her parents, Roslyn “Roz” Ruth and Herbert Levinsky, “for their unwavering love
and support.” The piece unfolds gently and plays upon some of the more idiomatic
characteristics of Jewish music. It is meant to be prayerful, thus the sub-title, A Kaddish, which is
part of almost every ritual in the Jewish faith. More specifically for this work it is a prayer of
mourning, but also one of restrained exaltation and consolation. Quiet Hearts: A Kaddish was premiered on March 3, 2017 by Gail Levinsky at the Music by Women Festival, Mississippi University for Women, Columbus, Mississippi.