Out of the Classical Closet: Great Music by Gay Composers - 15th Annual Shabbat Shirah Concert presented by CBST

Last night, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, NYC's LGBTQ synagogue, presented its 15th annual Shabbat Shirah concert.  As Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, the congregation's senior rabbi, explained after the intermission, the custom of presenting concerts at this time of year by Jewish congregations is linked to the weekly Torah portion, which recounts the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt.  Upon crossing the sea and observing the demolition of the pursuing Egyptian forces, they expressed their thanks through improvised songs and dances.  Thus, Shabbat Shirah, the sabbath of song.  This incident is recalled at every Shabbat service by the singing of "Mi-Chamocha," the verse recounted in the book of Exodus as having been sung on that occasion.

Each Shabbat Shirah concert since the first one has been distinctive in some way.  I remember that first one, held in a virtually-abandoned synagogue on the lower east side of Manhattan that was in the process of being restored.  We sat in the large unheated sanctuary space on a frigid winter night, shivering in our coats on rickety wooden chairs, as some intrepid musicians in winter coats performed chamber music on an improvised stage dramatically lighted with hanging lanterns, and afterwards those of us who came up with a little extra cash walked northwards to a restaurant for a festive meal.  The concerts since then have been in a multitude of locations and have focused on a wide variety of musical genres, usually having either a Jewish or gay connection of some sort.   Last night we were at Merkin Concert Hall, in Abraham Goodman House, a block north of Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side. 

The decision this year was to focus on the gay connection rather than the Jewish connection.  Indeed, it was a bit surprising to me that some prominent gay Jewish composers - prime candidates for a concert like this - were left off the program.  And plenty of prominent non-Jewish gay composers who might have been included were not.  But then, there is only so much one can include on one program.  Eleven composers were represented on a program running over two hours: Jack Gottlieb, Francis Poulenc, Camille Saint-Seans, Reynaldo Hahn, Peter Tchaikovsky, Manuel de Falla, Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber, Libby Larsen, Ricky Ian Gordon, Leonard Bernstein, and the decision was made to produce a song recital with fully professional voices, the only exceptions being the inclusion of the CBST community chorus for the prelude and closing numbers, and for a string quartet to provide an instrumental prelude after the intermission with Barber's Adagio for Strings, performed in its original version as the slow movement of the composer's String Quartet.

One might quibble with the inclusion of some of these composers.  Saint-Saens, when accused of being a sodomite, indignantly denied the charge, exclaiming that he was a pedophile, not a sodomite.  He used to sojourn in Algeria, where he enjoyed hanging around with Arab boys.  I had not previously seen Manuel de Falla mentioned in the company of gay composers, and would be eager to hear more.  The program book said nothing about the composers, and only a few were discussed from the stage.  One of the composers, Jack Gottlieb, was present and introduced after his song, but no information about his interesting career and long professional association with Leonard Bernstein was mentioned.  I have a marvelous CD of his Jewish liturgical music, and so was familiar with his work - which was the only Jewish-themed music on the program, but I suspect his was not a familiar name to most of the audience.   Perhaps in future some attention could be paid to this aspect of the production. 

Our professional singers were soprano Deborah Selig, mezzo Donna Breitzer, high-tenor Marc Molomot, and baritone Jesse Blumberg, with a single solo for CBST's cantorial intern Jason Kaufman.  All of the professional singers have had extensive experience in opera, recitals, and as vocal soloists with orchestras.   String instrumental participants were violinist Erica Kiesewetter (concertmaster of the American Symphony Orchestra) and several of her ASO colleagues, violinist Suzanne Gilman, violist Adria Benjamin (a prominent CBST member), and cellist Frances Rowell.  Principal accompanist and musical director for the evening was CBST Music Director Joyce Rosenzweig, who was assisted by pianist Beth Robin when she was conducting the choir.  I think that covers all the participants, except of course for the anonymous stagehands, whose virtuosic movements of the piano about the stage elicited enthusiastic applause as well from a very appreciative audience.

The diversity of musical selections was stunning, and so was the singing of them.  Each of the soloists brought to bear great artistry and exquisite preparation.  I had been most familiar previously with the work of tenor Marc Molomot, having attended concerts in which he sang solos in early music -- one of his specialties -- and also with the Trinity Choir, and heard some of his recordings.  I've also heard Jesse Blumberg before, most importantly the Marilyn Horne Foundation recital he sang at Saint Bart's a few years ago, as well as his recent recording of a song cycle by Ricky Ian Gordon, "Green Sneakers," from which he sang and acted one selection last night accompanied by the string quartet.  I hadn't heard either of the women before, but now I'm eager to hear them again, as both were superb. 

If CBST is of a mind to do another "classical closet" concert, I have some recommendations for more composers to explore.  In her spoken introduction, Joyce Rosenzweig mentioned some of the obvious gay candidates: Marc Blitzstein, Aaron Copland, David Diamond, Ned Rorem.  I would definitely add Lou Harrison, Jake Heggie, Mark Adamo, Karol Szymanowski (all those lucious Polish late-romantic songs!!!), Hans Werner Henze, Franz Schubert (history's greatest songwriter?), and my friend Jorge Martin, whose gay-themed opera, "When Night Falls," will be premiered later this year by the Ft. Worth Opera Company.  Jorge has a marvelous song cycle, The Glass Hammer, which could provide a song or two for such a mixed program.  I think one could easily put together another entire terrific concert without repeating any of the composers from the first.  And if Marc Molomot could be enveigled to participate, I would want to include Lully and Haendel!!

Well done, CBST!   But a modest suggestion for next time: If you're going to hand out texts in the program book (here, translations for everything not sung in English), then leave up the lights so the audience can actually read them during the performance.  Hearing an unfamiliar song sung in Russian or French without access to a translation is only a fraction of the full esthetic experience of appreciating the song.  This is one of my recurring criticisms of concert presenters in New York, who incur the expense of producing and distributing texts and then make it difficult for the audience to read them.  In an opera, you turn down the lights because the audience's attention should be focused on the stage - there are sets and costumes and acting to watch.  But in a vocal recital, there is no reason apart from the singer's vanity to douse the house lights, and every good artistic reason to leave them up to reading level.