Adding to the minuscule number of Klezmer pieces for concert band, Nonantum Bulgar is the 20th piece published in the BandQuest® series. The title, Nonantum Bulgar, refers to Nonantum, a district in Newton which is home to the city’s oldest synagogue (on the National Register of Historic Places), and bulgar (pronounced ‘bull-ghar’), a type of Klezmer dance. When writing the piece, the composer imagined the dedication of the Adams St. Shul, which took place over one hundred years ago and featured a prominent Boston cantor and choir and a klezmer orchestra leading a “Grand March” down Adams St. This upbeat work is fun to play, features a trumpet solo, and gives every instrument the opportunity to play the melody.
Instrumentation
1- Conductor
2- Piccolo
4- Flute 1
4- Flute 2
2- Oboe
5- B-flat Clarinet 1
5- B-flat Clarinet 2
2- B-flat Bass Clarinet
2- Bassoon
2- E-flat Alto Saxophone 1
2- E-flat Alto Saxophone 2
2- B-flat Tenor Saxophone
2 E-flat Baritone Saxophone
3- B-flat Trumpet 1
3- B-flat Trumpet 2
4- F Horn
3- Trombone 1
3- Trombone 2
2- Baritone B.C.
2- Baritone T.C.
4- Tuba
1- Timpani
2- Percussion 1
2- Percussion 2
2- Percussion 3
Meet The Composer
Hankus Netsky, a multi-instrumentalist and composer, is an instructor in jazz and Chair of Contemporary Improvisation at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he has taught for thirty-five years (serving ten years as chairman of Jazz Studies). He is Founder and Director of the internationally renowned Yiddish music ensemble Klezmer Conservatory Band and serves as research director of the Klezmer Conservatory Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to research in and perpetuation of Yiddish music. Mr. Netsky has taught Yiddish Music at Hebrew College, New England Conservatory, and Wesleyan University and lectures extensively on the subject in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
His Film Credits include The Fool and the Flying Ship, a Rabbit Ears children’s video narrated by Robin Williams, The Forward From Immigrants to Americans, and The Double Burden: Three Generations of Working Women. He adapted and composed the score to the musical Shlemiel the First (produced by the American Repertory Theater and American Music Theater Festival) and composed the incidental music for the NPR radio series, Jewish Stories From Eastern Europe and Beyond (produced by the National Yiddish Book Center). Other significant recent compositions include The Trees Of The Dancing Goats, for Rabbit Ears Radio (PRI) and his Suite for Mandolin and Strings, commissioned by the New Sinfonietta of Amsterdam. He also served as musical director and arranger for Joel Grey’s Borshtcapades ‘94, collaborated with violinist Itzhak Perlman on In The Fiddler’s House, a Klezmer music video, recording, and touring project, and was artistic director for A Taste of Passover and A Taste of Chanukah two PBS and PRI concert productions featuring Theodore Bikel, taped at New England Conservatory. He was a consultant, arranger, and featured performer on To Life! America Celebrates Israel’s 50th, broadcast internationally by CBS. He has produced numerous recordings including nine Klezmer Conservatory Band CDs.
Mr. Netsky has received numerous awards for his work, including an Outstanding Alumni award and the 1998 Lawrence Lesser award for excellence in teaching from New England Conservatory. He holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in composition from New England Conservatory.
About The Premiere
This piece was workshopped January to June 2013 with the Newton All City Band in Newton, MA under the direction of Elaine Ropi and Gary Fox.