In 1999, Pavlina Dokovska, chair of the Piano department, founded the Mannes Sounds Festival and became its artistic director. The festival presents more than 20 concerts annually performed by Mannes' talented students and master classes and lectures by distinguished faculty members and renowned guest artists. The events are held at various prestigious New York City concert venues and cultural institutions.

The Mannes Sounds Festival is one of the outstanding components of Mannes' performance program.

Schedule of Events:

7:30pm - Mannes Sounds: The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds; A chamber opera by Ofer Ben-Amots based on the play by S. Ansky

Stage Direction by Stephen Brown-Fried

Music Direction by Robert Kahn

Through his haunting and evocative score, Ofer Ben-Amots offers an operatic retelling of S. Ansky’s masterpiece of the Yiddish theatrical canon. Wracked with grief for her beloved, Leah, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, recounts her love of a young scholar who died on learning of her betrothal to another man. On the day of the wedding, she becomes possessed by an evil spirit, known in Jewish folklore as a dybbuk. In order to exorcise the spirit and save Leah’s soul, the village must learn the spirit’s true origin.

A partnership with the American Society of Jewish Music and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, directed by Stephen Brown-Fried and performed by students from Mannes and the College of Performing Arts, The Dybbuk is certain to excite your spirits!

Location:
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011