New Veretski Pass project, "Lillith the Night Demon"
Hot on the heels of Jewlia Eisenberg's "Bowls Project," which delved into ancient Jewish amulets, and their own, ground-breaking "Klezmer Shul," the Veretski Pass crew are hard at work at an even farther out project, "Lillith the Night Demon." From the project website:
Lilith is the "alternate" Jewish story of creation, its earliest appearance being from the Babylonian Talmud, with references from Mesopotamia and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The work is to be created in collaboration with the San Francisco Choral Artists (SFCA). The composition uses the structural elements of the Kamea, (Heb. "amulet"), ritual objects wherein charms against Lilith abound. The work highlights some of the lesser-known facets of Jewish mysticism and superstition and integrates them into a new composition that uses traditional gestures of East European Jewish music as well as modern compositional and improvisatory elements.
The piece is currently scheduled to premiere in May 2014; possibly being previewed in some form at the Jewish Music Festival in Berkeley, March 2014. Stay tuned!