Basia Rubin. Jewish Songs

Basia Rubin (1898-1985) is a composer of Jewish origin, almost unknown to the public.

Her family - her parents, seven sisters and a brother - lived in the town of Dolginovo, then part of the Russian Empire (now Belarus). Basia was a dentist, but devoted her free time to music. She wrote over 200 compositions, mostly vocal lyrics. Many of her songs are based on her own Yiddish lyrics. Rubin's compositions include much music for children and even a children's opera.

In June 1941, Dolginov was bombed, leaving only four sisters in Basia's large family. Basia's life was saved by music - she had gone to Minsk to present her compositions in those days, so she survived. She never returned to her homeland. She died in Vileika (Belarus).

Several songs on the CD reflect the longing of Basia's family members who died.

Singer (soprano) and vocal teacher Ekaterina Somicheva performs extensively in Germany and other European countries, her repertoire is wide-ranging - from Sephardic songs to contemporary composers, from operas to concerts, from operettas to religious music. She has created memorable roles in operas such as Handel's Julius Caesar, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Eugene Onegin, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, All the Same, Don Juan, Verdi's La Traviata, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and others.

Ekaterina studied at the N. Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in St. Petersburg with Professor Elena Oparina.

Since 2020 she has been a soloist with the Düsseldorf Lyric Opera. As a vocal teacher she participates in Ekaterina Porizko's projects (Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Christmas Oratorio, MeerMusik Festival).

Ekaterina Porizko is an organist, pianist, conductor and artistic director of productions. Since 2011 she has been performing in the Baltic States, other European countries and Ukraine. Since 2007 she has been a regular winner of international competitions as composer, conductor and organist.

Since 2014 she has been actively conducting Mendelssohn's Elijah, Taneyev's cantata John of Damascus, Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro, Verdi's For the Hour of the Kings and Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, symphonic works by Grieg, Van Beethoven, Fauré.

Since 2016 she is the founder and artistic director of the international festivals Turm und Klang in Eslingen, Germany, the Carillon Festival in Stuttgart and the MeerMusik Festival in Merbusch. Since 2023 she is the director of the charitable foundation for professional musicians "Fresh Classics" (Klassi aber frisch).