Friday, January 15, 2010

Old Newspage

Deaf festival
Smock alley Theatre
8 Exchange street
Lower temple Bar
Dublin
29th of October at 20.00

Tickets 20 euro
Concession 15 euro

Judith Mok Hamsa Sephardic Ensemble:

Sephardic Songs Classical and Comtemporary , Hebrew Songs by Maurice Ravel, Iranian Music for Santour and ensemble Performed by Judith Mok soprano and Javid Afsari Rad santour, with Nick Roth sax, Oleg Ponomarev violin, Cora Venus Lunny viola, Francesco Turissi percussion & keyboard, Simon Jermyn guitars

‘My Heart is in the East, but I am in the West’, wrote the great Spanish Jewish poet, Judah Halevi, who lived in the 11th century. In Spain at that time, Jewish and Arabic cultures flourished alongside each other and cross-fertilised each other. The Jews called Spain ‘Sepharad’. When they were expelled from their beloved Spain in the 15th and 16th centuries, they took with them the romances and ballads of medieval Spain, which would come to be known as Sephardic music. As the Spanish Jews settled in North Africa, Turkey, the Balkans and the Holy Land, this music of loss and longing absorbed all the local musical influences, to produce the incredibly rich variety of Sephardic music we have today. For some years now the Dutch soprano Judith Mok, who is herself partly of Sephardic descent, has been exploring this unique musical heritage.

They will be joined by Javid Afsari Rad, one of the world’s leading exponents of Persian music and its special instrument, the Santour. The Santour is a hammered dulcimer which has been played in Persia for thousands of years, and is the ancestor of our Western piano.

It promises to be a unique evening, bringing together widely different styles of music from Jewish and Islamic cultures, in a spirit of harmony and celebration.

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upcoming radio appearances :
25 Oct 2009, 09:00 a.m. RTE, Sunday Miscellany
26 Oct 2009, 08:00 p.m. RTE, Arts on Monday with Vincent Woods
26 Oct 2009, 10:00 p.m. RTE, Arts on Monday with Vincent Woods
27 Oct 2009, 10:30 p.m. RTE, The View

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Judith will be performing on the 7th and 8th of June at 6:30 in the Beckett Theatre, Trinity College Dublin, singing Jewish and Persian music.

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You can now download Judiths latest album, 'Classical Russian' with a single click on Judith Mok - Classical Russian!


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19 October at 3.00 PM

THE NATIONAL GALLERY PRESENTS

Supported by DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL and the EMBASSY OF LATVIA

A SPECTACULAR ONE-OFF CONCERT BY AN ENSEMBLE OF OUTSTANDING SOLOISTS:

FRIENDS OF JUDITH MOK

Consists of the world-famous Latvian-American cellist Josef Feigelson, the Russian/German pianist Elisabeta Blumina, the brilliant young Irish violinist Cora Venus Lunny, and Judith Mok, Dutch-born soprano who now lives in Dublin.

They will be performing a programme of music seldom heard in Dublin, and some music which is being heard here for the first time.

Shostakovitch, Suite of Romances Op 127, for soprano and trio.

Shostakovitch, Piano Trio Op 2

Shostakovitch, From Yiddish Folk Poetry Song Cycle Op 79 for soprano and piano

And a WORLD PREMIERE

Louis Andriessen, Machmes Vos, a setting of the Yiddish poem by S.Anski, for piano and soprano.

Based on poems by Russia’s great Symbolist poet Alexander Blok, the Suite of Romances is one of the highpoints of Shostakovitch’s oeuvre, and Judith Mok has performed this piece all over the world. When she last performed it in Dublin in 2000 Martin Adams wrote in The Irish Times: ’This remarkable music got the performance it deserved, and Judith Mok was outstanding…full of the deep hued colours and rounded attack one associates with Russian singers.’

And of another performance of the same piece Douglas Sealy wrote: ‘Judith Mok succeeded in making this recital one of the most memorable held in the Hugh Lane Gallery.’

Tickets 20 Euro, at the door

Contact details: judithmok@eircom.net

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Friday the 11th of April will see Judith Mok singing in the Acadamy with the Republic of Loose.

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Judith appears on Pat Kenny, singing and reading from her new short listed short story "Where is the Party".

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Judith Mok has been shorlisted for the Francis McManus award with her short story "Where is the Party".

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Judith returns from her performances within India of "Molly Says No" with sparkling reviews:
"Mok’s dramatic recital, Molly says No! was awe-inspiring. Written by Irish Poet Michael O Laughlin, now writer-in -residence in Galway , the performance was originally commissioned for the Joyce Centenary celebrations in 2004. The performance aims to show a different side of Molly Bloom. Only a Nepalese shaman’s performance could be a match for Mok’s vibrant show as she sang songs from the era of James Joyce electrifying her audiences." - Times of India

"Molly Says No" will be traveling to India (Delhi) on 8th of January for a number of performances! Details to follow.

Judith will be singing and performing, opening the Tulca Arts Festival in Galway, which will be from the 9th to the 25th of November.

Judith Mok appeared to discuss her show, "Molly Says No" with Páraic Breathnach on RTE's "Theatre in the Round" on the 25th of October 2007. Listen Here!

Judith Mok recieves award from the Arts Council for her coming novel, working title "Bird".

Judith Mok and Kevin Sharpe, returning to the James Joyce Center for performances of 'Molly Says No!'on the 26th and 27th of Octobre, at 6:30p.m.

Judith Mok will be appearing on the Pat Kenny Show on 14th of this month.

Judith Mok Accompanied by Kevin Sharpe Singing Molly Bloom this Bloomsday

Judith Mok, accompanied by Kevin Sharpe, will be singing Molly Bloom this Bloomsday, June 16th, at Boris House.
Presented by Blackstairs Opera, in association with Eigse.

Coming Soon

We can expect to see Judith published in "Stinging Fly" this Febuary, and she will have three more pieces on the "Sunday Miscellany" in the coming months. To hear her piece "Nationalism" listen to Sunday Miscellany 21st January 2007 (she begins at 24 minutes and 34 seconds).

Sunday Miscellany Anthology

Publication in the selected Sunday Miscellany collection of 2004-2006.

Judith recently appreared on

"The 11th Hour" and on the "Vincent Browne Show."

New Years

Judith Mok appeared on Marian Finucane's New Years show along with surprise guest Bono.

Arts Council Literary Mobility Award.

Judith Mok has recently recieved an Irish Arts Council Literary Mobility Award to do research in Rega, Latvia.

New Book 'Gael' Out Now - 20th January 2006


The launch of new novel, 'Gael' took place at Eason's Hanna in Dawson Street on the 9th of May 2006 at 7PM
Published by Saqi Books this can be purchased on the following web site: www.saqibooks.com

Past Events::


Judith will be guest on RTE Radio's Rattlebag on the 7th of July 2005 talking extensively about her Festival that she has been kept busy with.
Judith Mok
If Joyce had not become a writer, there is every possibility that he might have made a name for himself as a singer. In 1904, he even shared a stage with John McCormack.

But first let's set the scene a little bit. Within the text Bloom admits to a liking for opera, in this case Mozart's 'Don Giovanni'- the story of a rake who gets his come-uppance.

'Vedrai Carino', a famous aria from that opera, was performed by Judith Mok accompanied by Dearbhla Collins.

Judith & Dearbhla will be performing in their production 'Molly Says, No!' this Saturday at 5.30pm at the Project Arts Centre.
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Crossing The Line
Presenter: Mary O'Donnell
Producer: Seamus Hosey

Series begins Saturday 11 June, 8.02pm

Crossing the Lines is a new thirteen part series which explores contemporary European poetry and each week will feature the work, in translation, of some of the most exciting writers from France to Romania and from Russia to Holland.
This week: 11th June 2005
The first programme in the series focuses on Holland with Irish poet,translator and screenwriter, Michael O'Loughlin and Dutch poet, novelist and classical singer, Judith Mok, discussing and reading in English and Dutch a selection of the best poetry of recent times written in the Netherlands.
Dubliner Michael O'Loughlin was surprised to discover a sophisticated and developed literature in Holland when he first went to live in Amsterdam in the 1980's. In the programme Michael reads some of his own translations from the poetry of Gerrit Achterberg whose use of surreal language and imagery influenced a whole generation of post World War 11 poets.
Judith Mok reads some of the poetry of her father, Maurits Mok, a major Dutch poet who died in 1989 having exerted a strong influence on his daughter's development as a writer. His powerful poem "The Face of God After Auschwitz" still strikes home today fifty years after that atrocity of war. In a poignant moment in the programme Judith Mok brings the story full circle when she reads her own poem in memory of her father, "In Memoriam Patris" :
"My father turned dust into gold,
built storm palaces, hunted language
and rode miraculous horses"
"Crossing the Lines" is presented by Mary O'Donnell and produced by Seamus Hosey.
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Song Like A Spear
Monday 4 July - Sunday 10 July. Venue is Meeting House Square Temple Bar.
Season of Islamic culture will present a snapshot impression of contemporary arts and culture from the Islamic world through music, photography, film, readings, storytelling and markets. These events are part of 'A Song like a Spear', a festival examining the influence of Middle Eastern Culture on the West to be held in 2006.
Devised in association with Judith Mok.

Molly Says No! is a dramatic recital written by Michael O'Loughlin and performed by soprano Judith Mok with pianist Dearbhla Collins.
This is Molly Bloom, heroine of Ulysses, on stage rather than in bed, freed from the prison of Joyce's text.
Not the sensual, semi-literate, mythical Earth Mother, but Molly the serious artist, professional singer, foreigner, immigrant, a complex modern woman in a male world.
She sings the music she loves - not the repertoire imposed on her by Joyce - and tells her story in her own words!

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