Program Notes:

Meditations Over Shore is a one day journey along the shore. Being far from homeland, many memories about the shore on the other side of the ocean came to my mind. While walking on the shore, one can hear the murmur of the waves, buoy bells, rain and foghorns – all found their way into the score. For most of the time, the soloists and chorus do not sing text, but rather breathe and hum. I decided to use only one line of text, after a poem by H.N. Bialik – one of Israels’s most important poets: “Me’ever La-Yam” (Beyond the sea.) For the premiere of “Meditations Over Shore”, I used buoy bells that were borrowed from the Rhode Island Coast Guard. When the buoy bells are too hard to get, other kind of bell (with no clapper), metal plate, or small tam tams may substitute. Meditations Over Shore was written for conductor Tamara Brooks and the New England Conservatory chamber singers and chorus.