Akiva, Sephardic Anthology

Daniel Akiva
Sephardic Anthology for flute solo

Six movements for flute based on Jewish-Spanish music from different genres written as monologues rich with Expression and complexity.

Contents:

1. Blanca Ninya
2. Angelica - cancion de cuna
3. Kedusha - liturgical chant
4. Donula - cantiga
5. Nani nani - romansa
6. Cancion de boda

Daniel Akiva is a composer, performer, and educator whose performances on guitar and lute have won great acclaim. Mr. Akiva graduated from the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem in 1981, where he studied classical guitar with Haim Asulin and composition with Haim Alexander. In 1987 he completed his studies at the Geneva Conservatorium in Switzerland where he studied lute with Jonathon Rubin and composition with Jean Ballisa. He currently heads the Music Department at the WIZO High School for the Arts in Haifa, which he founded in 1986, and has been the Artistic Director of the Guitar Gems Festival since 2006. As part of his work at WIZO High School, he has developed a method for teaching free improvisation that has been incorporated into the music program at the school.Malchut, was issued by OR-TAV in 2014.

Mr. Akiva has appeared in concert as a guitarist and lutist and given master classes in Israel, Europe, Russia, the United States, and Latin America. Daniel Akiva’s compositional output includes works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, choir, voice and guitar, piano, and chamber orchestra. His works have been recorded on twelve CDs, the latest of which, Malchut, was issued by OR-TAV in 2014. 

A native of Haifa whose family has lived in Israel for over five hundred years, he was steeped in the Sephardic (Jewish-Spanish) tradition from his youth. Much of his compositional output has been devoted to a dialogue with the music of the Sephardic Jews. Daniel Akiva has also maintained a creative dialogue over many years with the poets and writers Amnon Shemesh, Rivka Miriam, and Avner Peretz.