Author Archives: dannyashkenasi

About dannyashkenasi

I'm a composer with over 30 years experience creating music theater. I'm also an actor, writer, director, producer, teacher and general enthusiast for the arts.

Museum Impressions

Posted on June 17, 2018

Yesterday at the Brooklyn Museum with an unwitting special focus on the feminine    

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BROOKLYN PRIDE

Posted on June 11, 2018

Park Slope Comes Out! Highlights from the June 9 Brooklyn Pride Street Fare and Parade     We are Family – Sisters Sledge  

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BEWARE THE CON! – a cautionary epistolary tale

Posted on June 5, 2018

  The following emails are actual.  Only certain identifying details have been redacted.   Sunday, 7:01pm – Message from D- C- relayed via a service for independent contractors: Hello,My name is D- ,I want lessons for my Daughter,she is 12 … Continue reading →

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These Roses are Ready for their Close-Up, Mr. DeMille!

Posted on June 3, 2018

Another year… another June… This year the rose garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden had received a “hard cut”, as we heard a passerby explain.  Which made it still lovely but less lush than in years past.  So I’ll focus … Continue reading →

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ARTS-A-POPPIN’

Posted on May 24, 2018

There’s a new category here at Notes from a Composer: Arts-a-Poppin’. (This category, like all the others, can be accessed on the right side of every site page, just below the tweet stream.) After posting a double bill of selections … Continue reading →

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SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES at ART NY 2018

Posted on May 20, 2018

Part 2 of my glimpse into ART NY 2018.  Some more “celebrity sightings” in artist and subject just as in Part 1.  Even more “shifting perspectives”, featuring videos of art work that show how they change, either because they include … Continue reading →

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Celebrity Sightings at ART NY 2018

Posted on May 13, 2018

The large Yigal Ozeri portrait of Whoopi Goldberg behind the information desk by the entrance into ART NY 2018 was a hint that this year’s exhibition would have more than its fair share of celebrity sightings.  Not only celebrities being … Continue reading →

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The Views from THE VIEW

Posted on May 3, 2018

Ed and I were treated to dinner at The View restaurant on the top of the Marriott Hotel in Times Square.  48 stories high, the whole restaurant is perched on a circular platform that, like a very slowly rotating record, … Continue reading →

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ELEGANT PRIMITIVISM or ELEGIAC ENERGY – On the Conclusion of the Public Vote in the Carl Orff Competition

Posted on May 1, 2018

The public voting phase of the Carl Orff Competition concluded yesterday.  Now I guess the public ratings of the 115 entries are being weighted and tabulated to determine five finalists.  Five more finalists will be chosen by a select jury.  … Continue reading →

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WEDDING MUSIC – 25 Years Together, 20 Years Married

Posted on April 25, 2018

“So, where did the two of you meet?” we are often asked. “In the back of a Greyhound bus,” we respond by rote, and await the inevitable follow up question. It was exactly 25 years ago, April 25, 1993, on … Continue reading →

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STILLES ENTSETZEN – AWESTRUCK, AWFUL REGRET – One More Week of the Carl Orff Competition’s Public Voting

Posted on April 22, 2018

  “Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes” evokes the lead-up to Orpheus’ fateful turn to glance at Eurydice, the awestruck, awful regret at that moment and its terrible aftermath. “Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes” beginnt kurz vor den fatalen Rückblick Orpheus zur Eurydike, welches stilles … Continue reading →

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CARL ORFF COMPETITION – Let’s Hear it for the Underdogs

Posted on April 15, 2018

  Dear Danny, Your Orpheus,  Eurydike,  Hermes​ is a brilliant,  powerful piece,  spellbinding from its first note to the final silence,  tense,  tumultuous between,  each step possessed,  pauses as loud as the notes,  the whole astounding,  overwhelming.   Orpheus. Eurydike. … Continue reading →

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HAPPY SONGS FOR DARK TIMES #1 – A Grand Hotel Extravaganza

Posted on April 8, 2018

Sometimes the right slice of music can be a sure fire happy picker upper. These are dark, soul depressing, body wearying times we live in.  More than once I have been hearing people talk about how they feel sick in … Continue reading →

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Another Year, Another Trio of First Grade Operas.

Posted on March 29, 2018

Three first grade operas have performed in their classrooms in front of an audience of parents, grandparents and loved ones.  In three consecutive days 1-3’s “Diamond Kids”, 1-2’s “The Alicorns” and 1-1’s “Imagine” regaled audiences with stories, dialog, lyrics and … Continue reading →

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MARCHING FOR OUR LIVES IN NYC

Posted on March 25, 2018

  March 24 – March For Our Lives –  Millions are on the streets in the USA.  Here are some impressions from New York City.  With appropriate and inappropriate songs that went through my head as Ed and I participated. … Continue reading →

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ORPHEUS. EURYDIKE. HERMES

Posted on March 15, 2018

My Entry in the Carl Orff Competition I composed a chamber work, a song in the tradition of the “Lieder” of the salon, called “Orpheus. Eurydike. Hermes”. It describes the moment in Greek mythology when Orpheus, leading his wife Eurydice … Continue reading →

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