Meira Warshauer was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, and graduated from Harvard University (magna cum laude), New England Conservatory of Music (with honors), and the University of South Carolina. She studied composition with Mario Davidovsky, Jacob Druckman, William Thomas McKinley, and Gordon Goodwin. Her works have been performed and recorded to critical acclaim throughout the United States and in Israel, Europe, South America, and Asia. She has received numerous awards from ASCAP as well as the American Music Center, Meet the Composer, and the South Carolina Arts Commission. Warshauer was awarded the Artist Fellowship in Music by the South Carolina Arts Commission in 1994, and in 2000, received the first Art and Cultural Achievement Award from the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina.
Warshauer has received commissions from the Dayton (Ohio) Philharmonic, the South Carolina Philharmonic (three orchestra works), the Zamir Chorale of Boston with the Rottenberg Chorale (New York City), Zemer Chai (Washington, DC), Gratz College (Philadelphia), Kol Dodi (New Jersey); the Cantors Assembly, clarinetist Richard Nunemaker, violinist Daniel Heifetz, and flutist Paula Robison. Her CDs include the soundtrack to the documentary Land of Promise: The Jews of South Carolina and Spirals of Light, chamber music and poetry (by Ani Tuzman) on themes of enlightenment, on the Kol Meira label, and Revelation for orchestra, included on Robert Black Conducts (MMC). YES! for clarinet and orchestra, written for and recorded by Richard Stoltzman and the Warsaw Philharmonic, is scheduled for release by MMC in 2004.
Warshauer is on the faculty of Columbia College, Columbia, South Carolina, where she teaches an innovative cross-cultural, multidisciplinary course on the experience of music as a source of healing. Warshauer has devoted much of her work to Jewish themes. In spring 2002, Kol Israel National Radio broadcast an hour-long program to her music. For more information about Meira Warshauer, visit her website at Meira Warshauer.
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Thursday, January 26, 2006
arrived today
I'm at the internet cafe near my hotel. It was a long trip, but got here safe and sound. Very exciting. Also tired. Kirk's driver Peter met me at the airport in Vienna. Scenic drive to Bratislava.
Maria, Kirk's wife, met me at the hotel and took me to the Reduta, the main concert hall, where the Phillharmonic Choir rehearses. I worked with the chorus for 2 hours this afternoon. The director is lovely and the singers have a beautiful sound, and they love the music. The most challenging part is the section in English in "Ahavah" that is like sing/speech--I see what Sam Adler meant when he said it is easier for a non-Engllish speaking chorus to pronounce English when singing than when speaking. Well, everything else is singing, and that sounds beautiful. We'll work with the chorus again Monday afternoon when the soloists are all here.
Tomorrow morning I'll meet with Timotea, my publicist for the concert Thursday. She has been contacting all kinds of press and radio. I'll see if she was able to line up any interviews.
I'm hoping to get used to the time zone over the weekend. Jennifer arrives tomorrow morning, and Michael and Stephanie are due in Sunday morning. I'll go to Rabbi Myers' for Shabbat tomorrow night and again in Saturday. He is excited because there is a bar mitzvah this weekend--he called it a historic event! Timotea gave me a book Rabbi Myers wrote about the Chatam Sofer who was active in Bratislava in the 19th century.
Dobre, (I think that means hello, goodbye, and thank you--it seems to be said all the time--I'll try to get a phrase book tomorrow!)
Meira
posted by Meira Warshauer
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