Concert commissioned by Jay Phillips Center awarded Arts Tour Minnesota grant

"Song of Wonder," a concert of South Indian and Judeo-Spanish music commissioned by the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning and first performed in 2014, has been awarded an Arts Tour Minnesota grant to be performed in four Minnesota locations. 

The concert, created by David Jordan Harris and Nirmala Rajasekar, will be performed at 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in The Pause at St. Olaf College, Northfield; 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, in the Jussi Bjorling Recital Hall at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter; 7 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in the Centrum at Concordia College, Moorhead; and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 5 at the Rochester Civic Theatre.    

After premiering on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas in April 2014, Song of Wonder was performed in May 2014 at Saint Benedict's Monastery in St. Joseph and in November 2014 at the Hindu Temple of Minnesota, Maple Grove.   

Inspired by the poetry of a thousand years in their traditions, Harris and Rajasekar designed the concert to probe the many facets of wonder as gateways to an illumined and impassioned life. 

Harris and Rajasekar are the lead vocalists in the "Song of Wonder" ensemble, and Rajasekar also plays the veena (an ancient Indian string instrument) in the concert. Other members of the ensemble are Carnatic percussion master Thanjavur Muruga Boopathi, percussionist Mick LaBriola and 'ud player David Burk. 

Highlights of the concert include excerpts from the oldest extant piece of notated Jewish music; improvisational performances by Rajasekar on the veena in both familiar and rare ragas (melodic soundscapes of Indian music); ancient Tamil Sangam poetry; plaintive Judeo-Spanish and Hebrew chants from Jewish communities in Bosnia, Morocco, and Turkey; and new musical arrangements flowing from the concert's cross-cultural collaboration. 

"We are honored to tour this unique collaboration throughout Minnesota, to continue to learn from one another and to deepen audiences' awareness of Sephardic Jewish and South Indian cultures," Harris said. 

"One of our primary goals," he added, "is to draw attention to creativity as an avenue for deeper understanding within Minnesota's increasingly diverse cultural landscape." 

Harris is co-founder and artistic director of the Twin Cities-based Voices of Sepharad. A singer, actor and dancer, he has studied and performed Sephardic (Judeo-Spanish) music in many countries and throughout North America. The interfaith arts special consultant for the Jay Phillips Center, he is also executive director of Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council. 

Rajasekar is the artistic director of the Naadha Rasa Center of Music in Plymouth, where she teaches the art of South India's Carnatic music. She made her debut as a solo performer on the 7-string veena at age 13 in Bangalore, India, and has been featured in many world-renowned venues, including New York's Carnegie Hall, the United Nations' Symphony Space, and the Rumi International Festival in Konya, Turkey. 

Arts Tour Minnesota project grants support touring performances, exhibitions, and other arts activities throughout Minnesota. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.