Niki Russ Federman, a fourth-generation co-owner of Russ & Daughters, believes this music provides a vehicle to connect with a shared past, similar to how her family's business uses food and space.
Composition History
The first song cycle, "in a dark blue night," sets modernist Yiddish poetry about New York City written by Jewish immigrant poets from the turn of the 20th century.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The album "in a dark blue night" consists of two connected song cycles that explore Jewish immigrant experiences in New York City.
Composition History
The second song cycle, "Coney Island Days," transforms an oral history with composer Alex Weiser's late grandmother, Irene Weiser, into a musical exploration of the period when Jews became Americans.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The album aims to give voice and dignity to the experience of the individual, especially through the words of Alex Weiser's grandmother in "Coney Island Days."
Cultural Impact
Annie Polland, president of the Tenement Museum, views this album as an important way to understand the diversity of Jewish experience in the first half of the 20th century.
