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Composer, pianist, conductor and educator, Simon Sargon was
born in Mumbai, India in 1938 and brought to America at an
early age. After initial studies at the Longy School of Music
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sargon obtained degrees from
Brandeis University (B. A., Music, magna cum laude, Phi
Beta Kappa, Class Valedictorian) and the Juilliard School
(M. S. Composition, 1962). He pursued further studies at Kneisel
Hall Chamber Music School in Blue Hill, Maine, the Aspen Music
Festival and School, and the Tanglewood Institute. Among his
major teachers were Darius Milhaud, Irving Fine, Vincent Persichetti,
Miecyslaw Horszowski and Sergius Kagen.
While living in New York from 1960-1971, Sargon was a recital
partner for famed mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel in concerts
and master classes throughout the United States and abroad,
including the Peabody Conservatory, the University of North
Carolina and the University of Chicago. Among their performances
together was a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1963 memorializing
composer Francis Poulenc. Also during this time, he served
on the musical staff of the New York City Center Opera, the
Lincoln Center State Theatre, Sarah Lawrence College, and
the Juilliard School.
After receiving a grant from the America-Israel Cultural
Foundation in 1971, Sargon relocated to Jerusalem, Israel
to take a position as Head of the Voice and Opera Department
at the Rubin Academy of Music and serve as a Visiting Lecturer
at Hebrew University. He also concertized throughout the country
and was invited to give a solo piano recital at the Israel
Museum.
In 1974, Sargon was appointed Director of Music at Temple
Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas, one of the largest Reform congregations
in America. During his 27 year tenure, Sargon established
himself as a major creative figure in contemporary American
Jewish music. His wide range of Jewish liturgical music, includes
two complete Friday evening services, a Sabbath morning service
and numerous solo and choral works, and is performed regularly
in synagogues across America. During this time, he brought
the Temple Emanu-El Adult Choir into prominence in the larger
Jewish community, touring extensively in the United States
and Israel and to Jewish communities in Mexico City, Toronto,
London, Dublin, Birmingham, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Prague,
and Budapest. The Temple Emanu-El Choir premiered his work
Elul Midnight- A Cantata of Penitence with the Dallas
Symphony Orchestra in 1984 and was invited to present a concert
at the U. S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. in 1996.
Sargon has served as Composer-in-Residence and received commissions
from leading temples throughout the country and, as Emeritus
at Temple Emanu-El, continues to consult and collaborate with
Cantors and other temple musicians on creative projects. He
is a fellow of the Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity
and participated in the Center's First International Symposium
held in Jerusalem in 1996. In 2003, the American Conference
of Cantors made him an Honorary Member in recognition of his
achievements and for "his outstanding contributions to
Jewish Music and Jewish Life." In the fall of 2006, Sargon
was one of ten composers selected from throughout the country
to be a panelist and present his music at the "Lost Legacy
Conference" in New York, an event sponsored by Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, School of Sacred
Music which explored the music of the past generation of Jewish
liturgical composers.
Many of Sargon's Jewish-themed concert works have been performed
widely at music festivals and in concert series in the U.
S. and abroad, including such venues as the Pittsburgh Jewish
Music Festival, Music of Remembrance (Seattle, WA) and the
Los Angeles Jewish Symphony series. Artists of the Orchestre
National de Bordeaux Aquitaine performed his works at a Holocaust
remembrance program in the Grande Synagogue of Bordeaux, France.
His work for solo clarinet and piano, KlezMuzik, has
circled the globe, being featured on a U. S. State Department
tour of Africa and on a tour of Asia where it was performed
at the Central University of the Nationalities and the Contemporary
Music Academy, both in Beijing, and at the Shanghai Conservatory
of Music in Shanghai, China, among other venues.
Since 1983 Sargon has been on the faculty of Southern Methodist
University in Dallas, Texas where he currently serves as Professor
of Composition. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has premiered
three of his works to critical acclaim (Elul Midnight;
Symphony No. 1: Holocaust; Tapestries), and his instrumental
and vocal works have been performed nationally and internationally.
His music has been featured regularly on Dr. Karl Haas's nationally
syndicated program "Adventures in Good Music" and
has also been the subject of numerous doctoral dissertations.
Notable commissions include the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
(Haas Trio; Toward the Light), Meadows Foundation (Saul,
King of Israel), Yale University (Psalm 8), Voices
of Change (Fantasy on 'The Miller's Tears'; Shema)
and the Dallas Holocaust Society (Ash un Flamen). The
Texas Music Teachers Association named Sargon its Commissioned
Composer twice, in 1994 (Dusting Around with Scott's Rag)
and 2003 (Sonic Portals). Sargon has received the Annual
Award of Recognition from ASCAP (1991-present). He was named
a Finalist in the National Opera Association Competition (1997,
The Singing Violin); and awarded First Prize in the
National Association of Teachers of Singing competition (1993,
Waves of the Sea).
In 2007 Sargon was in residence with the Northwest German
Philharmonic in Hanover, Germany where he supervised a recording
of his orchestral work, Tapestries, to be broadcast
throughout Germany and the European Union. The American Conference
of Cantors paid tribute to Sargon at its 2008 national convention
in San Francisco, California with a concert of his works.
In the same year, Southern Methodist University honored him
with the Meadows Foundation 2008-2009 Distinguished Professor
Award.
Sargon's special interest in creating works for young people
is reflected in his many compositions for youth choir. Sing
God's Praise, a Friday evening service for youth choir,
was commissioned and recorded in its entirety by the Children's
Choir of Temple Rodeph Shalom in New York and has gone into
its second printing at Transcontinental Music. Transcontinental
Music has also published Sargon's A Voice Called, a
work for youth choir with narrations and musical settings
of the poetry of Hannah Senesh, a hero of the Holocaust. It
was written not just for performance in a Jewish setting but
as a meaningful artistic vehicle for use in Holocaust awareness
and education programs in schools and other mainstream venues.
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra featured Sargon's delightful
work, The Town Musicians of Bremen, at its opening
concert of the 2009-2010 Family Concert Series. This work
for narrator and orchestra was adapted by the composer from
the story by The Brothers Grimm. Following its successful
premiere at Tufts University in 2006, it has been performed
to enthusiastic response in venues as diverse as University
of Missouri-Columbia's summer music festival (with the Missouri
Contemporary Ballet); twice at Southern Methodist University
(with the Meadows School of the Arts Division of Dance); and
twice on young people's concerts at Music in the Mountains
in Durango, Colorado (with the Pagosa Springs Youth Drama
Group). The Dallas Symphony Orchestra's performance included
the participation of Dallas Black Dance Theater.
Sargon's works are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Southern
Music, Hal Leonard, Transcontinental Music Publications, and
Lawson-Gould, among others. His work as both composer and
pianist may be heard on the Crystal, Ongaku, Klavier and New
World labels. The Gasparo label has devoted three CDs exclusively
to his compositions (Shema, Flame of the Lord,
and A Clear Midnight) and two of Sargon's compositions
were selected for inclusion in the Milken Archives Collection
of 20th Century American Jewish Music (Shema and At
Grandfather's Knee). Sargon is listed in Baker's Biography
of Musicians (7th edition) and the International Who's
Who in Music (11th edition). His works are included in Keith E. Clifton’s Recent American Art Song: A Guide (2008) and featured on Hampsong Foundation’s "Song of America" project at www.songofamerica.net.
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