Yiddishkeit

Description

Timofeyeva’s Yiddishkeit, a transliteration of the Yiddish word for “Jewishness”, was composed in 2008. The earlier version of Yiddishkeit (for cello and 7-string guitar) was recorded by the Timofeyev Ensemble on their 2009 CD Shloyme. Timofeyeva arranged Yiddishkeit for cello and piano in 2022. Natalia Timofeyeva was born to Ukrainian-Jewish parents who moved to Moscow from Odessa in the mid- 1930s. Young Natalia joined the Moscow Conservatory where she studied violoncello with Prof. Sergey Shirinsky and the young Mstislav Rostropovich. As a child, Natalia Timofeyeva was heavily traumatized by the Holocaust. Between 1941 and 1943 she lost many family members including her grandparents and her father. Timofeyeva began composing in the early 2000s, soon after her relocation to the United States. Her music combines a somber, tragic character with tenderness and life affirming playfulness.