On My People

Soprano Chérie Hughes and guitarist Roberto Limón present three works inspired by the music of Spain and the Sephardic Jewish diaspora. The opening title work, composed by Samuel Zyman and commissioned in 2013 by the duo, sets an English translation by Issac Jack Lévy of a poem by Henrietta Asseo. Asseo's family was almost completely lost in the Holocaust and the poem captures both the poignant loss of life and the hope for renewal. "Divan of Moses-Ibn-Ezra," Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's monumental 19-song cycle based on poetry of the exiled 11th-century Sephardic philosopher, explores the ephemeral nature of love, life, and faith. Written between 1974-1976, Matilda Salvador's cycle, "Endechas y cantares de Sefarad," sets well known traditional Sephardic melodies with a more contemporary harmonic language.