Yehuda Yannay

Yehuda Yannay is a composer, conductor and professor of music theory and composition at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. A musician of international reputation, he is the creator of more than 120 works for virtually all musical media. Yannay is co-author and performer in films, videos and stage works. In 1994 he formed with visual artist Marie Mellott the intermedia performance duo Mindbender Theater. Yannay is also devoted to the organization and conducting of performances of music by living composers. In 1971 he founded the "Music From Almost Yesterday" concert series and continues to present every season numerous concerts of 20th Century music to the public.
His music is published by Levana Music, the Israel Music Institute and Media Press

"Music From Now and From Almost Yesterday"

CD REVIEWS by alternate music press: This album is a MUST for anyone who loves 20th century work and one that anyone can use to TEACH others about what can be created by the hand and mind of a master composer.

A Yannay compilation CD of chamber music is out. The CD includes the compositions Nine Branches of the Olive Tree(1983-84), Seven Late Spring Pieces for piano(1973), Duo for flute and cello(1991) and Trio for clarinet, cello and piano(1982). The production of the CD was under the supervision of the composer. Inquiries and purchases via e-mail from yannay@uwm.edu or from the CDemusic

...Yannay is an expressive composer with a great sense for sound-images. He knows how to capture the spirit of all times, situations and places, and to transform them into an integrated musical work that speaks in an authentic language...A Tribuna (SaõPaulo)

Click here to listen to some examples of Yehuda Yannay's music

Yehuda Yannay and Jon Welstead just issued the new CD

"The Ghost in The Machine"

on the Electronic Music Foundation label. The CD features six compositions including: Yannay's "In Madness There Is Order",Welstead's "Fo(ur) Percussionist(s), "All In A Whisper", "Topochronos from The Dream," and two collaborative pieces "In Between Us" by Welstead/Yannay and "Waiting In Non-Compliance: If We Want It So" by Welstead/Steve Nelson-Raney. Order from yannay@uwm.edu or CDemusic
About the music on this CD: "In Madness There Is Order" .....the most powerful and expressive piece in the program...(Hamburger Abendblatt) .....powerful, original and even visionary...(Wisconsin State Journal, Madison) "Topochronos" ....The dazzling orchestration of the computer part..created a compelling three-dimensional "soundscape" that bathed David Ignatow's poem "The Dream" in deep, rich hues. (Milwaukee Sentinel) ......this piece certainly holds attention, especially with Dan Nelson throwing himself into it as he did... (Milwaukee Journal)

Click here to listen to some examples of the music on this CD

"Hidden Melodies"

Yannay's latest CD of his chamber music contains "Five Pieces for Three Players" for soprano saxophone, clarinet and marimba, "The Hidden Melody" for French horn and cello, "Im Silberwald" (In the Silver Forest) for trombone, glass harmonica and tape and "At the End of the Parade," six songs for baritone and chamber ensemble on poems by William Carlos Williams. Inquiry and purchase from the CDemusic or from the yannay@uwm.edu

About the CD and the music on it:
....the attention-grabbing heart of Hidden Melodies is Im Silberwald (In the Silver Forest), a remarkable 30 minutes piece which places assertive trombone voicings against edgy, precarious drone, generated by electronics in combination with glass harmonica...(The Wire magazine, U.K.)
"Five Pieces for Three Players"..among its fetching moment...the fourth piece created some uncanny echoes in the rafters of St. Mary's Episcopal Church. (The Kansas City Star)
"The Hidden Melody"....It is an arresting adagio through which the horn wails a long, winding prayer seemingly without beginning and end....(Milwaukee Sentinel) "At the End of the Parade"...Yannay's setting of W.C. Williams poems is full of original moodpainting. (The Village Voice, New-York)
"Im Silberwald"....Yannay wrote sounds of spheric beauty and lifted the listeners imagination to other realms of consciousness. (Stuttgarter Zeitung, Germany)

Click here to listen to some examples of the music on this CD

Yannay can be contacted at:
yannay@uwm.edu