Programme Note
Composer Note:
When I set Elijah's Angel, it truly was a conceptual companion to my previous chamber setting of Chris Van Allsburg's Christmas story The Polar Express. I wanted to create a Holiday concert (pairing both pieces) that would not be a Christmas or Chanukah concert, but a concert that would welcome everyone. The key for me to Michael Rosen's story is the idea that a young Jewish boy and an elderly Black wood-carver develop a friendship in which each learns that the differences that separate us are not as significant as the human connections that can bring us together. The core of Elijah's Angel, and the concert as a whole, is an occasion for us all to give thanks together as the key words of the Shehechiyanu prayer illustrate, 'Thank you God for letting us reach this season together.'
-- Robert Kapilow
Synopsis:
Robert Kapilow reinvents holiday traditions again with his new musical setting of Michael Rosen’s children’s story Elijah’s Angel. Kapilow comments: ‘When I set Elijah’s Angel, it truly was a conceptual companion to my previous chamber setting of Chris Van Allsburg’s Christmas story The Polar Express. I wanted to create a Holiday concert (pairing both pieces) that would not be a Christmas or Chanukah concert, but a concert that would welcome everyone. The key for me to Michael Rosen’s story is the idea that a young Jewish boy and an elderly Black wood-carver develop a friendship in which each learns that the differences that separate us are not as significant as the human connections that can bring us together.’