MUSIC

Rothko Chapel and the Jewish Community Center of Houston collaborate to present an Encore Performance of A Human Prayer with visiting artists Etty Ben-Zaken and Eitan Steinberg .Free Performance is 7 PM Monday, November 2 at Rothko Chapel.

Visiting artists Etty Ben-Zaken (pictured) and Eitan Steinberg, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation Visiting Israeli Artists in Residence at the Jewish Community Center, are the featured artists in a program including Steinberg’s Rava Deravin for voice and string quartet; and Steinberg’s Stabat Mater – A Human Prayer for voice, string quartet and soundtrack. Performing in the quartet are Houston Symphony musicians Rodica Oancea-Gonzalez and Mihaela Oancea-Frusina on violin, Linda Goldstein on viola, and Jeffrey Butler on cello. The string quartet will be featured in the second movement of Franz Schubert’s String Quartet in D minor, “Death and the Maiden.”

This encore presentation of A Human Prayer, which was previously performed in September on Museum District Day, is offered to the public free of charge. Seating is first come, first serve. The Rothko Chapel is located at 3900 Yupon Street in Houston’s Museum District.

Eitan Steinberg, composer, is the recipient of Israel’s Prime Minister’s Prize for composers in 2007. He is currently the head of the Music Department at Haifa University. His music embodies the convergence of different cultures and is inspired by traditional and folk materials from around the world. The collaboration with his wife, vocalist Etty Ben-Zaken, has yielded more than twenty vocal works premiered in Israel, Europe, and the United States. Performers of his music included the Israel Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, the Israeli Contemporary String Quartet, Israel Contemporary String Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, Kuss Quartet (Germany), violist Kim Kashkashian, and pianist Sarah Cahill. His works have been recorded on the New Albion Records label, ECM Records, the Israeli radio, WDR German Radio, the Israeli TV, and BBC TV. In 2001, conductor Richard Pittman and ensemble Boston Musica Viva recorded a CD featuring six of his chamber works.

Etty Ben-Zaken, singer, author, and interdisciplinary artist, performs contemporary works in numerous concerts in her native country of Israel, in Europe, and in the United States. Well-versed in the extended vocal techniques of contemporary music, she feels equally at home performing early music repertoire and folk songs from her Sephardic heritage. She is an active creator in music, theater, and literature: two of her novels have been published in Israel and five of her music theater shows, collaborations with her husband, have been presented in festivals in Israel, German, and the United States. She is a faculty member in the theater department at Haifa University.

The Rothko Chapel is funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.