September 18th, 2009 by emeth
Israeli musicians Uri Sharlin (accordian) and Avi Avital (mandolin) will return to the Puffin Cultural Arts Center with an exciting new program that explores the musical tradition of Eastern European Jews through original compositions, early 20th Century classics, Yiddish folk songs, and music from the Jewish ghettos. Guest musicians will be Grammy-winning trumpeter Frank London (Klezmatics), percussionist Shane Shanahan (Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road), and composer/singer and award-winning cantor Magda Fishman. $10.00 suggested donation. Reservations recommended: tix@puffinfoundation.org. Saturday, September 26, 8:00 p.m. 20 Puffin Way (formerly East Oakdene Ave., off Teaneck Rd.) in Teaneck. Call 201-836-3499 or visit www.puffinculturalforum.org.
URI SHARLIN, Israeli-born composer, accordionist and pianist, started his training as a classical pianist at the age of 7; in his teenage years, he began playing jazz piano in and around Tel Aviv. Uri moved to New York in 1998, where he studied with some of New York’s legendary masters including Jackie Byard , Ron Carter, Arthuro O’Farrell, Cliff Korman, and Nancy Garniez. While in New York, Uri discovered his passion for world music and became an accomplished scholar and musician in many different musical traditions, from Balkan and Arabic to Brazilian and Cuban music. In his own group, the Cardamon Quartet, he introduced his original compositions as well as arrangements for Israeli folk songs and classical Arabic pieces. After touring to Israel in 2004, the Cardamon Quartet recorded their first album, “Reflections of the Road,” on Folk Dune Records. Since then, Uri has recorded on many albums, mainly in the world music genre. In summer 2005, a three-month tour of Europe with the alternative rock band, “Antony and the Johnsons,” took him to the Montreux Jazz Festival, Vienna Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Royal Festival Hall in London, and Town Hall in New York. In 2007 Uri began two exciting projects, one with Italian Israeli master mandolinist Avi Avital, and another with two of New York musicians: Kyle Sanna and Satoshi Takeishi.
AVI AVITAL, Israeli mandolinist, has soloed all over the world with orchestras and baroque ensembles such as the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, The Orchestra Cantelli di Milano, the Baroque Ensembles Arion and Fantazyas (Italy), the New Israeli Opera, the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, Orchestra “I Pomeriggi Musicali, and the Beer-Sheva Symphonietta. He has won first prize in numerous competitions including the International Competition for Plucked Strings, “Città di Voghera” (Italy), the Giovani Talenti (Italy), the Tzvi Rotenberg National String Instruments Competition (Israel), and the Paul Ben-Haim National Competition (Israel). In addition, Avi has been awarded scholarships from the America–Israel Cultural Foundation and from the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. He has recorded albums on Sony Classical, Mode Records NY, Pläne DE and La Discantica and, since 2004, has performed regularly with the renowned clarinetist Giora Feidman. Avi can be heard on the Israeli classical music radio stations Kol Hamusica, RAI3 Italy, MDR and Bayern 4 in Germany and WQXR in New York. He is a graduate of the Jerusalem Music Academy and Conservatorio Cesare Pollini of Padova, and has given lectures and master classes at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Stanford University in California, Conservatorio “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan, the Music Academy in Jerusalem, the University of the Philippines in Manila and the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Avi is currently based in Pavia, Italy.
