Adam Har-zvi: The Yeats Songs
About the piece:
"I originally completed The Yeats Songs in the autumn of 2019 as a set of four songs for soprano and piano. The version of the piece that you will be hearing is an arrangement of those four songs for voice and chamber
ensemble, with the additions of “The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water” and “Her Anxiety”, which were both originally conceived for this ensemble. The texts of these songs are poems by William Butler Yeats
which relate in some way to the passage of time and its effects on love, beauty, and/or knowledge." —Adam Har-Zvi
About the composer:
Adam Har-zvi is a composer and double bassist originally from northern New Jersey. His music focuses on rich counterpoint and the intersection between patient lyricism and rhythmic drive. His pieces have been performed by groups such as The Toledo Symphony, The Wind Ensemble Society of New York City, The 21st Century Consort, and the Mivos Quartet. Har-zvi is currently pursuing a doctorate in Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University, where he is studying composition and actively involving himself in the performance and curation of chamber music.
Har-zvi is a member of the mixed chamber quintet, Newphonia, which commissions several pieces annually and gives numerous performances in the Northwest Ohio area. They are first prize winners of the Douglas Wayland Chamber Music Competition, and have been featured on El Festival Internacional de Música de Cámara, and WGTE Public Radio.
Har-zvi’s music has received awards from the National Federation of Music Clubs, The Ohio Federation of Music Clubs and the NJ Arts Collective. He holds degrees in double bass performance and composition from The
Cleveland Institute of Music, UMass Amherst, and Bowling Green State University. He has studied composition under Jeremy Allen, Christopher Dietz, Mikel Kuehn, Salvatore Macchia, Marilyn Shrude and Kate Soper, and
has studied double bass under Salvatore Macchia, Bob Rohwer, and Derek Zadinsky.
