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A Composer Who Seeks
Technique And Identity

SHARON KANON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

SPECIALIZING IN MAHOGANY & WALNUT

PHOTO BY YONI REI F

15531 W 12 Mile • Just West of Greenfield
Southfield

810-569-8008

Hours: 10AM-6PM • Closed Tues. & Sunday

Andre Hajdu

A

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Friday, May 5th
5 p.m. - 10 p.m.

A rare opportunity to
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several hundred
original posters from
one of the country's
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96

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ndre Hajdu is a composer
with a mission. One of the
winners of the 1994 prime
minister's prize for com-
position in Israel, Professor Haj-
du is a combination of Don
Quixote, Moses and Freud. An
energetic man who never teach-
es the same course in the same
way, he is professor at Bar-Ilan
University, where he urges his
students to search for their roots
— to study their musical and eth-
nic identity, not just the tech-
niques of composition.
"We are living in a society that
tries to forget, and I'm the com-
poser who tries to remember,"
said Professor Hajdu (the "j" is
not pronounced). Musically, his
muses are Charles Ives and Bela
Bartok. The past, exile and eth-
nicity are all forces that spin to-
gether in his subconscious and
shape his art. And yet, the corn-
poser says, "Don't describe my
music through Jewishness. I am
no less a son of the Western ex-
istentialists."
As a music student in Bu-

dapest, Andre Hajdu studied
with Zoltan Kodaly who urged
him, in the spirit of Bela Bartok,
to get out into the country. Dur-
ing this period, he studied the
Gypsies and their ethnic music
with a conscientiousness that be-
came part of his methodology.
During the Hungarian Revo-
lution in 1956, Professor Hajdu
left his country for Paris where
he imbibed the Western way of
thinking. His interest in the Tal-
mud was also kindled in Paris, a
spark that helped to fuse the dis-
parate cultures and propel him
toward Israel, where he came in
1966.
"I am living in two different
worlds at the same time — the
Western and the Eastern," the
composer explains. "I'm Eastern
in the sense that I feel a great
commitment to all that is con-
nected to an ethnic past. An East-
ern artist doesn't think about
self-realization. I'm Western in
that a part of me is like Joyce and
Kafka, psychologically-oriented,
ego-minded, the lonely artist."
The composer says that Israel
is a wonderful place to achieve
a synthesis of the two worlds. The
diversity is more interesting than
a melting pot. "This is one of the
most interesting places to be in
the world as an artist."
In Israel, Professor Hajdu's
search for himself as part of "my
project as a composer" evolved in
religious and spiritual growth
that made possible marriage, a
family (he has six sons), commu-
nity and social involvement — all
of which have had an impact on
his art.

Andre Hajdu's roots are evi-
dent in many of his compositions,
such as Psalms (for choir and or-
chestra), Ludus Pascalis (a
miniature opera), The Prophet of C-\

Truth and the Prophet of Deceit
(for string orchestra), Eternal Life
(cantata), Jonah (opera), Job and
His Comforters (oratorio).

But there's no putting this
composer in a slot. Another side
of him is expressed in Bashful
Serenades (for clarinet and or-
chestra), The Unbearable Inten-
sity of Youth (orchestra), On Light
and Depth (orchestra), and the -\
Second Piano Concerto. Writing
for youth is also an organic part
of his creative effort. Milky
Way, in four volumes, is an
original contribution to piano
teaching as are The Art of Piano-

Playing and Concerto for Ten Lit-
tle Pianists.
Dreams of Spain, a panoram-

ic work that was premiered a few
years ago and performed at the
Jerusalem Festival this year, is
a revival of the past. The work is
an historic look at Jews in the Di-
aspora which climaxes with the
formal edict of Isabella and
Ferdinand to expel the Jews.
Soloists, a children's choir, a reg-
ular choir, Christian music and
an almost operatic scene are used
by the composer in the cantata.
"The music comes in the ser-
vice of the theatrical conception,"
says Professor Hajdu. "I try to
force people to transcend the con-
cert hall. I am doing the opposite
of Marshall McLuhan who says
the medium is the message." For
Professor Hajdu, the message is
the medium. ❑

Szyfra Institute Trains Artists

LISA SAMIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

I

n Moscow, Max Caspinoff, a
graduate of the Moscow Col-
lege of Theater Arts, was a
well-known marionettist with
an established career. Upon ar-
riving in Israel in 1990, aged 23,
with his wife and parents, he
worked as a garbage man.
Nona studied in Kiev's De-
signer Institute and at the age of
24 was an established theater de-
signer. After making aliyah with
her parents in 1991, aged 25, she
worked selling her paintings
door-to-door.
Irena Rutenberg, a veteran
dollmaker and professional artist

from New York, met Nona while
on a visit to Safed, a beautiful
mountaintop city in northern Is-
rael, home to a large artist com-
munity. She was shocked to hear
stories of immigrant artists
working in construction and
cleaning jobs or considering leav-
ing Israel.
"Artists are natural treasures,"
Ms. Rutenberg says. "I felt that
something had to be done to keep
these artists in Israel and help
them utilize their talents."
Thus, in October 1993, with a
$40,000 legacy left to her by an
aunt in Israel, Ms. Rutenberg

started the Szyfra Institute for
Artisan Training in Safed.
The institute's main commod-
ity is porcelain dolls, but it also
has expanded in producing bib-
lical dioramas, commemorative
medals and Judaica — all made
of porcelain.
Each artist undergoes inten-
sive training in the skills neces-
sary for making the handmade
dolls, but also is given the op-
portunity to create original de-
signs. Max and Nona both work
at the Institute. Max concen-
trates on making porcelain dio-
ramas, mezzuzot and figurines,