News From Misha’s Studio
January 2007
2007.... Happy year, everyone!
Use these links to jump around if you'd like
Film/TV | Music | Theatre | Performance | Radio Events | Ehud Manor | 411 Mania | Valentine's Day
misha segal music news
Female for Valentine's Day!
Commedia dell'arte poster of famed character, Harlequin
Bambino, Bambino!
Misha has started production on a children's musical in Israel. The show, styled after commedia dell'arte, is directed by Professor Yoram Boker, world renowned in pantomime and Israel's top figure in the art form. Based just outside Tel Aviv, the Parisian-born and raised Professor Boker studied in Paris at the Theatre of Nations University, as well as under the direction of master Marcel Marceau, and with Jacque Lecoq, of whose company he became a member. Professor Boker's original shows proved successful in Israel and around the world, on tour and at several international festivals (Edinburg, Strasburg, Avignon, Caracas, Arezzo, Taipei, Berlin, Tokyo, Memphis, Paris, Schleswig-Holstein....) Along with directing plays all over Israel, Prof. Boker teaches drama at Tel Aviv University.
Misha is currently in Tel Aviv rehearsing the actors on the musical numbers. Curtain rises in April at the Haifa Theatre.
Just for Kicks
Misha sat in with Eli Magen's jazz trio at a recent concert in Tel Aviv. (Anybody who knows Misha well knows he is a scholar of jazz and will enter a jam session whenever he has the chance.)
Fans of Eli (and those introduced to him in last month's newsletter) already know that along with holding a chair as bassist for The Israel Philharmonic, Eli is one of Israel's rockstar legends (that link will take you to a classic video on YouTube of Eli performing a song composed and arranged by Misha, lyrics by Ehud Manor). But you might not know that Eli graduated from Manhattan School of Music in New York City and studied under Bill Evans' bass player, Eddie Gomez.... Well now you do.
Ehud Manor
This April, Misha will be traveling back to Israel for a grand memorial to his good friend and songwriting partner, Ehud Manor*. He will be performing their biggest hits at the Mann Auditorium (3000 seat home of the Israeli Philharmonic).
*Can't read Hebrew? Here's an interview with Ehud in Spanish... an article in Russian....
For the English speakers among you, I'm afraid no English words are yet to describe the breadth of the impact this man had on a culture. Lyricist of over 2000 songs, translater of the great works of literature and theatre, Ehud lives amongst us as long as we keep him and his works alive... and so we will. A documentary with English subtitles is in the works, planned for international festival and television distribution. More information as it develops.
Misha prior to his arrival at Berklee College of Music
Misha speaks to the people of Israel...again.
Last month you read about Misha's hit radio interviews in Israel. Next week, Misha will be in Jerusalem, the 2-hour focus of a national radio broadcast featuring people who made a substantial, lasting contribution to Israel's culture. This is truly an acknowledgement considering the bulk of Misha's work in Israel was done in the very short period of five years, between 1968-1973. 14 of his most famous songs will be played and he will be interviewed about his role—past, present, and future—in the arts and in Israeli society as a whole.
If you'd like to visit the early years of Misha's work, take a look at this video of Eli Magen singing a hit song by Misha and Ehud. That lush arrangement is signature Misha.
Amy Adams, center
Pennies on Comcast
Last month, we told you about the rare film starring Amy Adams (Catch Me If You Can, Talladega Nights): Pennies is a brief but moving and comical look into the lengths a mother will go to see her daughter comes out ahead. We're told it's airing on Comcast 's Pay Per View through the end of the month at least, possibly through February. (Time Warner owns our cables. If you're a Comcast customer and know the details of how to access this film, please email us and we'll update this newsletter on Misha's website.)
Christmas Healing Volume I is the 18th most popular CD of 2006!
You may remember this release from last month (Volume I of the 3-CD set of popular holiday songs woven through with vocals, guitar and flute; a collaboration between New Age goddess Diane Arkenstone and Misha Segal featuring guitarist Peter Hume) and maybe even you picked up a copy yourself. Well, after caroling onto the retail and radio shelves weeks after the normal Christmas retail deadline, Christmas Healing Volume I ended the year at # 18 on the Top 100 New Age/Ambient/World Radio/Internet Airwaves Chart of all 2006 . 2007 will see the release of Volume II...which you'll start hearing about this summer :-).
Christmas is past, but Valentine's Day is coming! Are you prepared?
Female for Valentine's Day!
411
411mania.com Reviews Phantom of the Opera
Misha gets fan mail almost weekly about his score to the 1989 feature film Phantom of the Opera, for which he composed and conducted the 80-piece Budapest Symphony Orchestra, so it wasn't surprising when a recent review of this film was discovered on 411mania.com.
Started as a tiny, quiet Geocities website in 1996, 411mania.com has since ballooned into a major entertainment portal as recognized by CNN, TNT, TBS, USA Network, SpikeTV, FOX News, MSNBC, ESPN, ESPN The Magazine, MTV, and VH1 and gets 4 million unique visitors every month—yet, unlike other popular entertainment sites, it remains independently owned!
Female CDs: All you'll need for Valentine's Day—no, really!
If your wife/girlfriend/sister/mother/best gal/grandmother/daughter ever complained you'll never fully understand or appreciate women, give her Misha's Female CDs for Valentine's Day and she'll do something women are not known to do: take back her words and admit she's wrong. (This newsletter's copywriter is a woman so she should know.)
No, really, here are indications which support that wild notion:
“…The art and the message in the Female CD’s accompanying book indicate that the CD is only for women, that women have been deprived of their spiritual and romantic sides. Is your music meant to express that anguish and lack or to provide a release from it, or both? Do you feel that men, though members of the same violent world, have not suffered from or experienced this emotional and spiritual detachment? I’m not sure exactly what it does for me or if my enjoyment of the album has to do with my gender, but I would also like to let you know that I find your music to be extremely moving and beautiful.”
—Vicky S: College Student, New England
"...When I close my eyes, I feel like I'm not on this earth. Feels like all problems are taken away." —Helen O: Homemaker, Los Angeles
"I broke down in tears just past half way through...Female is the way I experience my life.... This CD satisfies so many fragments that keep wanting to be reminded that they exist..." —Bethe H: Professor of Anthropology, Kennebunkport, Maine
Ask any woman: There is nothing more romantic than being understood and appreciated by her man via the highest form of aesthetics. Misha's Female collection does all that and more.
Click here for samples and log on to www.primavistarecords.com to buy* now in time for Valentine's Day!
*Don't forget, in memory of Misha's mother, 10% of the Female CD proceeds goes to support the Lung Cancer Alliance, the only national non-profit organization dedicated solely to patient support and advocacy for people living with lung cancer and those at risk for the disease. See clips from Misha's recent concert for the LCA here.
Until next time! May the coming months bring you much health, happiness, success and love, lots of love!
PS: You can also check these sites for more info: IMDB (Internet Movie Database), MishaSegal.com, and buy music here: PrimaVista Records.com. (Don't forget to get your most beloved females copies of Female! )
PPS: We're thinking of starting a regular column as part of The Real Score. Haven't decided yet if it will be purely entertaining, purely informational, or a combination of both. What would YOU like to read about? Let us know.
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