Tikvah is an extended work based on the memoirs of Torah scholar and
Holocaust survivor Philip Markowicz, the old testament and the poetry of
the composer. It was performed in the Rialto Theater in Atlanta, Ga. Composer Burton Beerman, Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, Jan Baker- soprano saxophone, Maria Valdes-Soprano, Georgia State University Singers, Deanna Joseph-conductor, and W. Dwight Coleman, narrator.
CD Release is forthcoming on Albany Records.
Review: "Influenced by music he heard in the synagogue as a young child, composer
Burton Beerman had never infused any of this influence into his
compositions until he met Philip Markowicz, a living Holocaust survivor
and Torah scholar. The fruit of this association is Tikvah, a chamber
oratorio that sets Markowicz's life and philosophy as well as his Torah
insights to music. Tikvah is the Hebrew word for hope and hope was key
to Mr. Markowicz's survival. Performed by his granddaughter, Cantor
Andrea Markowicz with the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet and the Uzee Brown
Society of Choraliers, with Philip Markowicz as narrator, Tikvah is a
powerful, emotional and timely work, touching on the big issues of life,
love, death, survival, meaning, existence, faith, morality, happiness,
and tragedy."