Violist Jonah Sirota’s recital with guest artist Molly Morkoski, piano, and faculty artists William McMullen, oboe, Diane Barger, clarinet, John Bailey, flute, and Karen Becker, cello will take place Wednesday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Kimball Recital Hall.
It’s a program of chamber music with viola from the time when the instrument came into its own. The night features works by Holst, Clarke, Loeffler, Bruch, Martinu, and the world premiere of Elegy For a Lost World by Robert Sirota.
“When Jonah invited me to contribute a work for his project commissioning elegiac pieces for viola, I leapt at the opportunity,” Robert Sirota, Jonah Sirota’s father said in the program notes for the performance. “In our conversations about the creation of this work, he asked me for a piece evoking a sense of the innocence of youth. His suggested title was “Elegy for a Small World”. What I actually came up with is not so much about child-like innocence as it is about yearning for the idealism of youth. Hence, “small world” became “lost world”.
“While the four previous works (composed expressly for Jonah) were certainly all composed with Jonah’s prodigious talent in mind, Elegy for a Lost World resonates most particularly with his singular gift for deep and varied emotional revelation. I have tried to create a vehicle that reflects Jonah’s broad expressive range as well as the remarkable generosity of spirit he displays in his performing.”
Violist Jonah Sirota is known as a solo and chamber music violist of great range and depth. After making his solo debut at the age of 17 with Alan Gilbert and the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, he won concerto competitions at both Rice University and at the Juilliard School, and was third prize winner in the 2006 Naumburg Viola Competition. Sirota’s position at UNL includes teaching a select studio of violists, as well as helping run the chamber music program, coaching student chamber music groups and a performance series with the quartet.
The performance is free and open to the public. It will also be live Webcast: Visit music.unl.edu the night of the performance for the direct link.