Novel names, novel music in a new Astral Artists season

Most of the music featured in Astral Artists’ season opener will be just as novel as the names of the talented young musicians who’ll play it. Astral concerts showcase the young musicians who have survived the Astral audition process, but the programming doesn’t restrict them to sure-fire audience favorites. The September 27 program includes two pieces by eclectic contemporary composers who meld their Jewish heritage with other traditions. Osvaldo Golijov’s The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind combines a “klezmer clarinet” with a string quartet in a 33-minute piece by a MacArthur Fellow with an Argentine-Jewish background. Each movement in the three-movement piece develops a style based on one of the three historic Jewish languages: Hebrew, Yiddish, and Aramaic. David Schiff’s Divertimento from Gimpel the Fool incorporates a wedding song, a bread song, and other music from a two-act opera created by a composer whose music draws on elements from jazz, rock, and klezmer music. Dvořák’s popular “American” quartet rounds out the program.

Astral Artists will present Old World/New World on Saturday, September 27 at 7:30pm at the Church of the Holy Trinity, 19th and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia. General admission tickets (which can be purchased in advance or at the door) are $20; seniors are $18; and students are $5. For tickets and more information, visit www.astralartists.org or call 215-735-6999.