Casino Umbro
Amos Elkana composer
Meitar Ensemble & Israeli Bach Soloists
Konstantia Gourzi conductor; Ulrike Sonntag, Lilach Refaelovitch, Maureen Nehedar sopranos; Yossi Arnheim flute; Itai Morag trumpet; Tal Varon saxophone; Hillel Zori cello; Hagar Ben-Ari bass guitar; Oron Schwartz percussion
Israel Contemporary String Quartet
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orcheestra | Jerzy Swoboda conductor
Richard Stotlzman clarinet
CASINO UMBRO is the debut Ravello release from Israeli composer Amos Elkana, bringing listeners into a sonic world comprised of thoughtful, expressive, and emotional works for chamber ensemble, voice, and orchestra. Ranging from the dreamy, jazz-like Casino Umbro to the linguistic and tumultuous Arabic Lessons to the imaginative and fanfaric Tru’a, CASINO UMBRO conveys the essence of humanity and international relations through communicative and sophisticated musical expression.
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Artist Information
Amos Elkana
Amos Elkana was born in Boston, but grew up in Jerusalem. At the age of 15, he picked up the electric guitar and began to study music, which soon became his primary occupation in life. In 1987, aged 20, he returned to Boston to study jazz guitar at the Berklee College of Music and composition at The New England Conservatory of Music. In 1990, he moved to Paris where he studied composition with Michele Reverdy. He also took composition classes with Erik Norby in Copenhagen, and with Paul-Heinz Dittrich and Edison Denisov in Berlin. Two years later he returned to Israel where he has been living since. In 2007 Elkana received his M.F.A. in music/sound from Bard College, New York. While at Bard, he focused on electronic music and took lessons with Pauline Oliveros, David Behrman, Richard Teitelbaum, George Lewis, Maryanne Amacher and Larry Polansky, among others.