Jewish Music Institute – JMI – are honoured to partner with Spiro Ark for the London Book Launch of Ernest Bloch Studies edited by Alexander Knapp and Norman Solomon published by Cambridge University Press. Ref here Ernest Bloch Studies

One of the great twentieth-century composers Ernest Bloch left his native Switzerland to settle in the United States in 1916. He was influenced by a range of genres and styles – Jewish, American and Swiss – and his works reflect his lifelong struggle with his identity. Drawing on firsthand recollections of relatives and others who knew and worked with him this collection is the most comprehensive study to date of Bloch’s life, musical achievement and reception. Contributors present the latest research on Bloch’s works and compositional practice, including studies of his Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service), violin pieces such as Nigun, the symphonic Schelomo, and the opera Macbeth. Setting the quality and significance of Bloch’s output in its historical and cultural contexts, this book provides scholarly analyses as well as a full chronology, list of online resources, catalogue of published and unpublished works, and selected further reading.

We are delighted to announce that Ernest Bloch’s “Nigun” – the centrepiece of his three-movement Baal Shem Suite – Three Pictures of Chassidic Life (1923) – will be performed by the celebrated artists Miriam Kramer (violin) and Nicholas Durcan (piano). www.kramerdurcanduo.com 

Itinerary of the evening:

Doors: 6pm
Drinks reception until 630pm
Welcome and introduction from JMI and Spiro Ark
Lecture and recital until 8pm
Book signing until 8.30pm
Doors close: 9pm.

This event is brought to you in conjunction with Spiro Ark