April 23: New York premiere of Eric Chasalow's "Muriel's Songs" at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Monodrama inspired by a grandmother's memoirs traverses the tumult of 20th-Century America through a very personal lens
Performed by mezzo-soprano Sharon Harms and Talea Ensemble
A Jewish American memoir is told through “Muriel’s Songs,” a monodrama by Eric Chasalow, which receives its New York premiere performance on April 23, 2026. The mezzo-soprano Sharon Harms performs with the Talea Ensemble at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (15 W. 16th St, New York, NY).
Chasalow was inspired by the memoirs of his grandmother Muriel Gellert Chasalow (1903-2000) to compose this set of songs, which traverses the tumult of 20th century America from a very personal perspective. Each song inhabits its own musical world with stylistic points of departure from Baroque to Tin Pan Alley, The Beatles, Latin Jazz and Disco to Milton Babbitt.
The stories - which cover Muriel’s experiences coming of age and through adulthood, including piano lessons, marriage, and family vacations - were pulled from a collection of works she had written at a senior center creative writing course when she was in her eighties. "I extracted a number of dramatic situations from the book, composing a poem on each, often incorporating Muriel’s sentences to give a sense of her voice," says the composer.
The April 23 concert also features Alex Weiser's "Coney Island Days" (a love letter to Weiser's own grandmother) and Joan Tower's "Petroushskates." Tickets are $18 ($9 seniors/students), available at Yivo.Org/Musical-Memoir.
Calendar Listing
Tuesday, April 23, 2026 at 7:30 pm
New York premiere of
"Muriel's Song" by Eric Chasalow
Sharon Harms, mezzo-soprano
Talea Ensemble
YIVO Center for Jewish History (15 W. 16th St, New York, NY)
Tickets are $18 ($9 seniors/students) available at Yivo.org/Musical-Memoir