“Jewish Motifs in Russian Music”

November 29, 2012
Dr. Alexander Tentser, pianist
4:30pm
Music Building - Holsclaw Hall

This lecture and piano demonstration will explore the interaction between the elements of Eastern European Jewish Folk music and musical language of the great Russian composers of the 19th and 20th century including Glinka, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich and Prokofiev. The rich history of cultural exchange between Jewish and Russian art also includes tragic pages of persecution and anti-Semitism. This phenomenon influenced the whole Russian and European cultural history in the 20th century.  

Dr. Tentser began studying piano at the age of four with his father in Kiev, Ukraine.  He attended the Gnessin Music College and the Russian Music Academy in Moscow.  Alexander graduated from the University of Arizona with a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance. He is a faculty member at Pima Community College and directs the Pima Community College Orchestra.  Dr. Tentser and his wife Anna perform nationally as a violin and piano duo.