Non-stop energy blending the traditions of 90′s Rock and Eastern European folk music.
Author: Ezra Donner
Ezra Donner is an American composer, conductor, pianist, and teacher. He serves as Music Director at The Birmingham Temple Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Farmington Hills, Michigan, and teaches at Ada Conservatory of Music in Ada, Michigan.
Review of “Sonata Judaica” and Sonata no. 1 for Piano in Miss Music Nerd
Sonata no. 1 for Piano…had energy to spare, with driving rhythms and harmonies based on 4ths and 5ths. His Sonata Judaica for clarinet and piano gave clarinetist Mark Dover a chance to rock ‘n’ roll as well.
from a review by Linda Kernohan, Miss Music Nerd 6/1/10
Review of “Sonata Judaica” and Sonata No. 1 for Piano in The Big City
The standout pieces on the program were two works by Donner….His Sonata No. 1 for Piano and Sonata Judaica for clarinet and piano performed the vital action of setting their own premises and then attacking them a little bit. The duo was energetic and good humored, incorporating the flavor of Jewish melodies into Modernist structures with just enough touches of popular culture and craziness to also try and break out of them. It offered…a very open-hearted and human approach to music making. The piano sonata, played by Donner, was an exciting, impressive work…tossing off interesting, jazzy and often intensely energetic phrases, abandoning them and bringing them back just at the moment one thinks he’s forgotten about them. It seems random but is actually continuous. The material is dense but the writing is always clear, even in the inner voices.
from a review by George Grella in The Big City, March 10, 2010
Piano Sonata (2009) for piano solo
Music inspired by the Modernist tradition, with moments of lyrical melody coming through.
“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” (2007) for soprano voice and piano
Gentle and serene music, with vigorous and frantic interruptions.
“Sonata Judaica” (2006) for clarinet and piano
Revelatory and fanatical music inspired by the experience of being Jewish in America.
Five Poems by William Carlos Williams (2006) for mezzo soprano voice and piano
Sparse and atmospheric music drawing on a modal musical pallette.
Ezra Donner 