Alberto Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies Vol. 1 (Chansons Judéo-Espagnoles) Assaf Levitin & Naaman Wagner

• Alberto Hemsi (1898 - 1975): Coplas Sefardies, Op. 7:
• 1Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 7: No. 1 Yo Tomí una Muchacha02:47
• 2Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 7: No. 2 Durme, Durme Hermosa Donzella03:50
• 3Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 7: No. 3 No Paséch por la Mi Sala02:48
• 4Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 7: No. 4 Dicho Me Avían Dicho03:14
• 5Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 7: No. 5 Mi Sposica Está en el Baño01:54
• 6Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 7: No. 6 Ansí Dize la Nuestra Novia03:36
• Coplas Sefardies, Op. 8:
• 7Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 8: No. 1 Como la Rosa en la Güerta03:21
• 8Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 8: No. 2 el Rey por Muncha Madruga02:21
• 9Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 8: No. 3 Tres Hijas Tiene el Buen Rey03:20
• 10Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 8: No. 4 Ah, el Novio No Quere Dienro02:01
• 11Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 8: No. 5 Vengax en Buen' Hora02:53
• 12Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 8: No. 6 Estávase la Mora en Su Bel Estar03:02
• Coplas Sefardies, Op. 13:
• 13Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 13: No. 1 una Hija Tiene el Rey04:42
• 14Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 13: No. 2 Aquel Conde y Aquel Conde03:05
• 15Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 13: No. 3 Ya Salió de la Mar la Gana02:49
• 16Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 13: No. 4 Aquel Rey de Francia03:10
• 17Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 13: No. 5 Yo Me Alevantí un Lunes02:28
• 18Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 13: No. 6 Ya Abaxa la Novia02:29
• Coplas Sefardies, Op. 18:
• 19Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 18: No. 1 Triste Está la Infanta03:18
• 20Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 18: No. 2 Estávase la Galana02:43
• 21Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 18: No. 3 Bendicho Su Nombre04:48
• 22Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 18: No. 4 Quién Quiere Tomar Consejo03:30
• 23Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 18: No. 5 Tanto Fuites y Venites03:22
• 24Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies, Op. 18: No. 6 Mercar Vos Quiero, la Mi Mujer02:06
• Total Runtime01:13:37

Info for Alberto Hemsi: Coplas Sefardies Vol. 1 (Chansons Judéo-Espagnoles)

With their recording of Alberto Hemsi’s Coplas Sefardies, Assaf Levitin (cantor at the Liberal Jewish synagogue in Hanover) and his pianist Naaman Wagner recover an almost forgotten treasure of European and Jewish cultural history — just in time for the composer’s 120th birthday in 2018. Hemsi has been understood as a passionate guardian and advocate of Sephardic folklore and its musical tradition. In years of hard work, he gathered together many texts and melodies of this Jewish people which had lived in Spain until around 1500 before being dispersed throughout the Mediterranean after their expulsion from the Iberian Peninsula. To a large extent, Hemsi collected and notated the monodic, unaccompanied songs in the 1920s/30s and added to them a virtuosic, atmospheric piano accompaniment. Previously transmitted orally, these songs are just as good as any of their contemporary counterparts. With his publications, Hemsi saved this centuries-old tradition from oblivion and made it available to a broad concert audience. Nevertheless, these songs have remained rarities in the performance repertoire. By publishing the first of several planned albums Assaf Levitin and Naaman Wagner follow in Hemsi’s footsteps, laying the foundations for the first complete recording of the Coplas Sefardies.

Assaf Levitin, baritone
Naaman Wagner, piano

Assaf Levitin
The bass baritone Assaf Levitin is a well known interpreter of contemporary music. His repertoire includes Aribert Reimann’s Entsorgt, Schönberg’s Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte as well as the title part in John Casken’s Golem, performed at the World Music Days in Luxembourg. In 2012 he was a guest in the world premiere of Sarah Nemtzov’s L’Absence at the Munich Biennale.

In 2010 Assaf Levitin sang in the world premiere of Klaus Lang’s Buch Asche at Theater Bonn and took over a part in Bernhard Lang’s Montezuma at Nationaltheater Mannheim within 24 hours. In 2007 he sang in the world premiere of Bernhard Lang’s Der Alte vom Berge at Schwetzinger Festspiele and at Theater Basel. In June 2007 he gave a concert with Edgar Varèse’s Ecuatorial in the Köln Philharmonie.

Further guest engagements led him a.o. in 2006 to Wuppertaler Bühnen as Duncan and Macduff in Salvatore Sciarrino’s Macbeth. Also in 2006, he sang Kuno (Der Freischütz) at Festspiele Merzig. In 2005 he was a guest at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Seven Attempted Escapes from Silence, seven short operas written with a libretto by Jonathan Safran-Foer.

From 2002 to 2005 Assaf Levitin was a member of Theater Dortmund, where he sang a.o. Colline (La Bohème), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Hariadeno in Cavalli’s L’Ormindo, Nachwächter (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Notar (Der Rosenkavalier), Feri Bácsi (Die Csárdásfürstin) and Gremin (Eugene Onegin). He also sang the 1st Bass in Rihm’s Jakob Lenz at Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern.

Born in Israel, Assaf Levitin dedicates a part of his work to Hebrew music. In 2004 he recorded a double CD with Jewish A-capella songs under the label of Schott Music Mainz. In the same year he went on tour through Germany with a Jewish Lied program. In 2007 he recorded a Cd with contemporary Jewish songs by the composer Noa Blass. In 2009 he recorded a CD with Schubert’s Masses (NAXOS). His concert repertoire includes Beethoven’s 9th Symphony as well as the main works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Puccini, Rossini and Mozart. He worked a.o. with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, SWR Stuttgart, WDR Köln, Berliner Symphoniker, Brandenburger Symphoniker, Israeli Chamber Orchestra and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

Assaf Levitin studied at the University of Music Tel Aviv at Habima National Theater Israel. He continued his studies with scholarships in Germany at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Saarbrücken with Yaron Windmüller. At the moment he is coached by Ks. Karoly Szilagyi. During his studies Assaf Levitin won a.o. the Vera Rozsa-Nordell- and Walter-Gieseking-Competition and reached the finals at Paula-Solomon-Lindberg-Competition.

Assaf Levitin was a member of the International Opera Studios (IOS) at Opernhaus Zurich, where he sang a.o. Aroldo (Otello), Derwisch and Sultan (Die Pilger von Mekka).

Naaman Wagner
is active as a recitalist, chamber musician, and champion of contemporary music.

As a recitalist and chamber musician he has performed extensively in Israel, Europe, and Asia and has frequently recorded for the Kol Hamusika radio station in Israel. Also active in the field of contemporary music, he is a member of the 21st Century Ensemble, with whom he has appeared as soloist in Israel, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Tbilisi under the baton of Ilan Volkov and Zsolt Nagy, among others, playing countless world-premieres of new works as well as many 20th and 21st century masterpieces.

He has appeared at the chamber music hall of the Philharmonie in Berlin, Mendelssohn-Saal and Mendelssohn-Haus in Leipzig, at the Künstlerhaus in Munich, as well as at the Tel Aviv museum, Jerusalem Theater, the Jerusalem Music Center. His festival appearances include the Kol Hamusika Festival in the upper Galilee, the Israel Festival, and the Abu-Gosh festival, among others. A multifaceted musician, Wagner holds a B.A. from the Jerusalem music Academy studying piano under Eitan Globersohn and conducting under Evgeny Tsirlin, as well as a Diploma which he earned at the Hochscüle für Musik in Hannover, studying under Prof. Arie Vardi.

This album contains no booklet.