The Austin Symphony Orchestra’s November 22 and 23 concerts of two Mozart works—the Symphony No. 36 and Overture to La Clemenza di Tito—will also feature Compassion, a 2013 song cycle by Australian composer Nigel Westlake, composed with Israeli-born Australian singer-songwriter Lior Attar. The Austin Symphony first performed Compassion in 2016, led by Music Director Peter Bay; Bay will conduct this November’s performances at the Long Center in Austin, Texas, with Lior Attar as soloist. The work will be sung in Hebrew and Arabic, with English supertitles. A September 2016 article in the Austin American-Statesman noted that Compassion was composed after Westlake’s son Eli died in 2008 at age 22. Lior Attar, a friend of Westlake’s son, performed at a fundraising concert for a foundation established in Eli’s honor, which “inspired a collaboration between Westlake and Lior.”
Posted November 22, 2019
