Eastern Music Festival Presents Avner Dorman Premiere

Winner of the 2018 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, Avner Dorman will see his piece debuted by American guitarist Jason Vieuax

Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Eastern Music Festival (EMF) is celebrating its 61st season with its classical music festival and summer educational program for all orchestral instruments.

Conducted by EMF Music Director Gerard Schwarz, the Eastern Festival Orchestra will perform in the “Joseph M. Bryan Festival Orchestra Series: New Perspectives” concert on July 23, 2022.

The program will feature a world premiere performance by American guitarist Jason Vieuax of How to Love, written by Israeli composer and 2018 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music winner, Avner Dorman.

Named after a book titled “How to Love” by Zen Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, Dormans’ How to Love was originally written for guitar and string quartet or string orchestra. The piece’s four movements are titled after the six mantras that Hanh writes at the book’s conclusion: “I am here for you, I know you are there, and I am happy, This is a happy moment, and You are partly right.” 

“How to Love speaks to the essentials of mindfulness and how to love,” Dorman explained. “How to love oneself, how to listen and understand, be happy, and even disagree.” 

Avner Dorman is a doctoral graduate of The Juilliard School and studied composition with John Corigliano and Josef Bardanashvili. Based in the U.S., he currently serves as Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College. 

Vieaux is co-founder of Curtis Institute of Music’s guitar department and has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music for 25 years. A GRAMMY-winning recording artist, he plays a 2013 Gernot Wagner guitar, made in Frankfurt.

The July 23 concert will also feature Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E minor and Dawn by living composer, Juilliard and NYU graduate, Paul Frucht, to honor the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.

Frucht’s Dawn was inspired by his love for one of his teachers who passed away in the Sandy Hook Shooting. “Dawn Hochsprung was an incredible person I had the fortune of meeting when I was a student at Rogers Park Middle School,” Frucht wrote.

“When the tragic events occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14th, 2012, I, like everyone else in the Danbury area, was shocked and deeply saddened…I felt immediately compelled to write something in memory of her and the other twenty-five people who lost their lives that day.

“I titled the piece ‘Dawn’ not simply because it is dedicated to her, but because the nature of Dawn’s actions on the day of shooting are the inspiration for the character of this piece,” he continued. “When she became aware that her school was in danger, her immediate response was to protect the children of the school. She put herself in harm’s way in an entirely selfless act in an effort to save the lives of her students. Her legacy is one of selflessness, positivity, and extraordinary courage. This piece celebrates that legacy.”

Tickets to this concert can be found here.

This summer sees EMF return to regular in-person programming for the first time since their live 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic and their needing to operate at limited capacities in 2021. Their five-week 2022 season began on June 25 and will run to July 30, 2022.