Spring Concert

This concert series is devoted to rarely heard masterworks from the Sidney Krum Jewish Music and Yiddish Theater Memorial Collections at YIVO, performed by gifted young artists from the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music and other premier conservatories in the metropolitan New York area.

The Spring Concert featured the great Ernest Bloch masterpiece "Shelomo," the Hebrew rhapsody for cello, piano works by Joachim Stutchewsky and Alexander Krein, and rarely performed Yiddish songs, composed and arranged by American and Russian Jewish composers Shalom Secunda, Abraham Ellstein, Zinoviy Feldman, and Lev Kogan. The young performers were the cellist Valeriya Sholokhova, pianist Robert Buxton, and soprano Maria Dubinsky.

About Sidney Krum

The Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series and the Sidney Krum Jewish Music and Yiddish Theater Collections at YIVO are made possible by a generous gift from the Estate of Mr. Krum, who came to the United States as a child from the Polish town of Anatolia and learned Yiddish folk songs from his mother. He was a lawyer but spent the bulk of his career as a teacher in the New York City public schools. Throughout his life, he remained dedicated to his Jewish heritage, particularly its music, and to the education of the young people of New York.

Concert Program

Introductory remarks by Jonathan Brent, YIVO Executive Director, and Yuval Waldman, Music Director

"Schelomo", Hebrew Rhapsody for cello and piano
Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)

Valeriya Sholokhova, cello
Robert Buxton, piano

Bagatelles for solo piano
Joachim Stutschewsky (1891-1982)

1. Popular Song
2. Young pranksters
3. Yemeni Dance
4. Lullaby
5. Bagatelle
6. Blind man's song
7. Grotesque March
8. Little round
9. Chassidic Dance

Robert Buxton, piano

A nomen / A Name for soprano and piano
Zinovii Telesin (1907-1996), lyrics
Lev Kogan (1927-2007), music

Di Mashke / Liquor for soprano and piano
Mikhl Gordon (1823-1890), lyrics and music
Arranged for soprano and piano by Zinovii Feldman (1893-1942)

Maria Dubinsky, soprano
Robert Buxton, piano

Voloch
Wedding March for solo piano
Alexander Krein (1883-1951)

Robert Buxton, piano

Yehi Rotson / May It Be Thy Will
Israel Rosenberg (ca. 1850-1903 or 1904), lyrics
Sholom Secunda (1894-1974), music

Yismekhu / They Shall Rejoice
Abraham Ellstein (1907-1963), music
Lyrics — traditional

Maria Dubinsky, soprano
Robert Buxton, piano

About the Performers

Yuval Waldman, Music Director
Born in Russia and educated in Israel, the United States and Europe, Yuval Waldman has enjoyed great success as a violinist, conductor, and educator. Waldman has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel and given recitals at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall in London, and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 2005 Maestro Waldman founded Music Bridges International, to foster cross-cultural music exchange programs that feature the music of different countries. Under the Music Bridges banner, he organized the successful Young Artsist Strings Competition at the “Tchaikovsky’s Homeland” Center in Izhevsk/Votkinsk, Russia.

Robert Buxton, piano
Robert Buxton studies with Dr. Solomon Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music. Robert has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous venues, including Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Donell Library, Steinway Hall, Klavierhaus, and the Greenwich House of Music. In 2006 Robert won the Piano Concerto Competition in the Pre-College Program at the Manhattan school of Music, and in 2007 he received the school’s Rosetta Goodkind Award. In October 2010, he was a prize-winner at the Panama International Competition.

Maria Dubinsky, soprano
Born in Moscow, Cantor Maria Dubinsky immigrated to Israel in 1990, where she graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem with a degree in Vocal Performance. Ms. Dubinsky performed with the New Israeli Opera, as a guest artist in music festivals in Israel and Europe, and gave concerts in Israel and the USA. In 2010 Maria was invested as a Cantor by the Hebrew Union College with a Master in Sacred Music. After working as a Cantor at North Shore Synagogue in Syosset, Maria Dubinsky joined Temple Sha'arei Tefilah in Manhattan in July 2011.

Valeriya Sholokhova, cello
Valeriya Sholokhova, born in Kyiv, Ukraine, is a student at the Juilliard School, where she studies with Bonnie Hampton. Ms. Sholokhova began to study the cello at the age of nine. In 2001, Valeriya’s family immigrated to New York, where she enrolled in the Special Music School for gifted children at the Kaufman Center, studying on a full scholarship. During her school years, she was a laureate in a number of international competitions, including the Liezen International Cello Competition in Austria and the Antonio Janigro Cello Competition for Juniors in Croatia. She has participated in several summer music festivals, such as The Perlman Music Program, Aspen Music Festival, and the Music Academy of the West. A founding member of the EVI Trio, she has participated at The Juilliard School’s ChamberFest. In the summer of 2009, she served on the faculty of the SummerTrios Music Festival in Chambersbourg, Pennsylvania. In December 2009, she participated in the chamber music program at the prestigious New York String Orchestra Seminar. Ms. Sholokhova plays on a cello loaned to her by the Carlsen Cello Foundation.