"Aspects of Sarah" and "Akidat Sarah" - my alternative story.
The work deals with psychological aspects 
which are not fully introduced in Bible.
 It is an alternative story of Sarah,
as a person who doesn’t blindly accept the
will of God and Abraham obedience, but rather
wondering what would have happened if..
My story ends with the self sacrifice of Sarah-
no mother can accept the sacrifice of her son.
Each piece has several chapters, which can be played in any order
Aspects of Sarah (for flute)
I. Becoming Sarah
II. Secrets they told me
III. Jealousy
 IV. Suspicions
V. More secrets they told me

Akidat Sarah (for bass flute and alto flute head joint)
I. Altersarah
II. Secrets they never told her
III. Disobedience
IV. Akidat Sarah
The two pieces were performed by Daphna Itzhaky, December 28 2021, Ha-Teiva

Aspects of Sarah/ Akidat Sarah -performed by Daphna Itzhaky

"Shallow Water Dances" 
Performed by Inbar Solomon (recorders), Hadas Fabrikant (violin),
Eliana Lovenberg (viola), Iris Jortner (cello), Shira Shaked (prepared piano), Alona Epshtein (gopichand and maracas)
The piece is an imaginary dance. The piece has 8 parts:
I. Shallow Water
II. Asynchronic Dance
III. Dry Dance
IV. Wet Dance
V. The Lonely Dance
VI. Evil Eye Dance
VII. Even More Asynchronic Dance
VIII. The Final Dance

Shallow Water Dances

Alona Epshtein 'Casa tomada II' (after Julio Cortazar)
Meitar& Tremolo ensembles
Israeli Music Festival, October 2014

Casa Tomada- Part II

Israeli Women Composers & Performers Forum
VOX FEMINAE Music Festival
23-25.12.2014
Felicja Blumenthal Music Centre
Day  2, 'Dora's dream', curator Anat Pick
Performers: Inbar Solomon (bass recorder),Hadas Fabrikant (violin), Eliana Lowenberg (viola)

One's Censored Dream 24.12.2014

'Shearim' in memory of my father (2004), performed by Israeli  Young Philarmonic Orchestra ,Zeev Dorman (conductor), Roman Schpitzer (viola)
Young Euro Classics Festival
Berlin, 2006

Shearim- Excerpt

Dancers in the Vineyards, part I, performed by Tali Morgulis, live 6/03/2025, Houston

Dancers in the Vineyards, part II, performed by Tali Morgulis, live 6/03/2025, Houston

Dancers in the Vineyards, part III, performed by Tali Morgulis, live 6/03/2025, Houston

"Snow"  for 6 voices or chamber choir
Taipei Chamber Singers,2012
台北室內合唱團: Taipei Chamber Singers

www.tcschoir.org.tw/


snow

Alona Epshtein, "Temporary Shelter"
 for piano (playing also wooden maracas),violine and cello (playing also high and low gopichands and glass boxes)
Tali Morgulis -piano
Andrea Hallam -violine
Yotam Baruch- cello
Vox Feminae International  Festival,
HaTeiva, Jaffa 27.04.2017
SHELTER project

Temporary Shelter

The piece is dedicated to flautist Sara Minelli and is a part of bigger instrumental work in progress

Aspects Of Sarah- performed by  Sara Minelli December 6 2019

Performed on Vox Feminae Festival 2019 as part of "Dream within a dream" project

One's  Censored Dream -version 2019,  Inbar Solomon, Hadas Fabrikant, Eliana Lovenberg 3.12.2019

“A Butterfly” on poems by Masaoka Shiki
Tel-Aviv, July 2020
Performers: 
Rona Israel-Kolatt, soprano
Inbar Solomon, recorders
Hadas Fabrikant, violin
Eliana Lovenberg, viola
הקלטת הקונצרט התאפשרה בסיוע הקרן לקידום היוצר והיצירה הישראלית של אקו"ם


The piece was recorded with kind support of Keren-ha-Kidum, Akum
A special thanks to Ms Tami Kanazawa for her help with reading the poems by Masaoka Shiki.
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In Eastern cultures a butterfly symbolizes eternity, womanhood and love.
Eternity- due to the popular belief that spirits of the dead take the form of a butterfly on their journey to the other world and eternal life
Womanhood- the cycle of transformations through which a butterfly passes in his life is often associated with the transformations through which a girl passes on her way of becoming a young woman
Love- the butterfly is a sign of good luck in love and finding the soul mate.
“A Butterfly” has 6 parts and is written in semi-aleatoric notation. Many decisions are taken in time of performance, therefore a collaboration with performers is an important part of this composition.

The piece is dedicated to my daughter Maya

A Butterfly I-Prelude

“A Butterfly” on poems by Masaoka Shiki
Tel-Aviv, July 2020
Performers: 
Rona Israel-Kolatt, soprano
Inbar Solomon, recorders
Hadas Fabrikant, violin
Eliana Lovenberg, viola

הקלטת הקונצרט התאפשרה בסיוע הקרן לקידום היוצר והיצירה הישראלית של אקו"ם

The piece was recorded with kind support of Keren-ha-Kidum, Akum
A special thanks to Ms Tami Kanazawa for her help with reading the poems by Masaoka Shiki.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flutteringly,
Floating in the breeze,
A single butterfly.

ひらひらと　風に流れて　蝶一つ
Hira hira to/ Kaze ni nagarete/ Chou hitotsu

In Eastern cultures a butterfly symbolizes eternity, womanhood and love.
Eternity- due to the popular belief that spirits of the dead take the form of a butterfly on their journey to the other world and eternal life
Womanhood- the cycle of transformations through which a butterfly passes in his life is often associated with the transformations through which a girl passes on her way of becoming a young woman
Love- the butterfly is a sign of good luck in love and finding the soul mate.
“A Butterfly” has 6 parts and is written in semi-aleatoric notation. Many decisions are taken in time of performance, therefore a collaboration with performers is an important part of this composition.
The piece is dedicated to my daughter Maya

A Butterfly II-Her flight

“A Butterfly” on poems by Masaoka Shiki
Tel-Aviv, July 2020
Performers: 
Rona Israel-Kolatt, soprano
Inbar Solomon, recorders
Hadas Fabrikant, violin
Eliana Lovenberg, viola

הקלטת הקונצרט התאפשרה בסיוע הקרן לקידום היוצר והיצירה הישראלית של אקו"ם

The piece was recorded with kind support of Keren-ha-Kidum, Akum
A special thanks to Ms Tami Kanazawa for her help with reading the poems by Masaoka Shiki.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a journey, I’d have
As my companion on the road
A butterfly

Michizure wa/ kocho wo tanomu/ tabiji kana
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Eastern cultures a butterfly symbolizes eternity, womanhood and love.
Eternity- due to the popular belief that spirits of the dead take the form of a butterfly on their journey to the other world and eternal life
Womanhood- the cycle of transformations through which a butterfly passes in his life is often associated with the transformations through which a girl passes on her way of becoming a young woman
Love- the butterfly is a sign of good luck in love and finding the soul mate.
“A Butterfly” has 6 parts and is written in semi-aleatoric notation. Many decisions are taken in time of performance, therefore a collaboration with performers is an important part of this composition.
The piece is dedicated to my daughter Maya

A Butterfly III - Children's song

“A Butterfly” on poems by Masaoka Shiki
Tel-Aviv, July 2020
Performers: 
Rona Israel-Kolatt, soprano
Inbar Solomon, recorders
Hadas Fabrikant, violin
Eliana Lovenberg, viola

הקלטת הקונצרט התאפשרה בסיוע הקרן לקידום היוצר והיצירה הישראלית של אקו"ם

The piece was recorded with kind support of Keren-ha-Kidum, Akum
A special thanks to Ms Tami Kanazawa for her help with reading the poems by Masaoka Shiki.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Eastern cultures a butterfly symbolizes eternity, womanhood and love.
Eternity- due to the popular belief that spirits of the dead take the form of a butterfly on their journey to the other world and eternal life
Womanhood- the cycle of transformations through which a butterfly passes in his life is often associated with the transformations through which a girl passes on her way of becoming a young woman
Love- the butterfly is a sign of good luck in love and finding the soul mate.
“A Butterfly” has 6 parts and is written in semi-aleatoric notation. Many decisions are taken in time of performance, therefore a collaboration with performers is an important part of this composition.
The piece is dedicated to my daughter Maya

A Butterfly IV- Interlude

“A Butterfly” on poems by Masaoka Shiki
Tel-Aviv, July 2020
Performers: 
Rona Israel-Kolatt, soprano
Inbar Solomon, recorders
Hadas Fabrikant, violin
Eliana Lovenberg, viola

הקלטת הקונצרט התאפשרה בסיוע הקרן לקידום היוצר והיצירה הישראלית של אקו"ם

The piece was recorded with kind support of Keren-ha-Kidum, Akum
A special thanks to Ms Tami Kanazawa for her help with reading the poems by Masaoka Shiki.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I looked back,
the one I just met on the road
vanished in the mist.

Kaerimireba/ yukiaishi hito/ kasumikeri
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Eastern cultures a butterfly symbolizes eternity, womanhood and love.
Eternity- due to the popular belief that spirits of the dead take the form of a butterfly on their journey to the other world and eternal life
Womanhood- the cycle of transformations through which a butterfly passes in his life is often associated with the transformations through which a girl passes on her way of becoming a young woman
Love- the butterfly is a sign of good luck in love and finding the soul mate.
“A Butterfly” has 6 parts and is written in semi-aleatoric notation. Many decisions are taken in time of performance, therefore a collaboration with performers is an important part of this composition.
The piece is dedicated to my daughter Maya

A Butterfly V- The One Who Vanished

A Butterfly VI- Coda

Dr. Alona Epshtein was born in 1975 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 1990 immigrated to Israel. She graduated from Buchman-Mehta school of Music in Tel-Aviv University, where studied composition with prof. Leon Schidlowsky and Ruben Seroussi (M.Mus. Summa Cum Laude) and was a recipient of America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship (2003-2005), Wolfson scholarship (2006) and Buchman Foundation Doctoral   scholarship (2007-2010). She accomplished her PhD studies at Bar-Ilan University, PhD projects were supervised by prof. Betty Olivero and prof. Marina Ritzareva.  
Epshtein’s music was commissioned, performed and broadcasted in Israel and abroad, to mention ”Aviv” Competitions, The Adele and John Gray Endowement Fund (Tel-Aviv 2005) , “Young Euro Classics” International Festival(Berlin 2006), Kfar-Blum Chamber Music festival (Kfar-Blum 2010),ACL festival (Taipei 2011),Contemporary Music Days (Nuremberg 2013),’’Cortazar- Life in music and words” conference (Long Beach 2014), Israeli Music Festival,(Tel-Aviv, 2014), ‘The Present of Orchestral Asia” festival (Kyoto 2015), Teiva Marathon (Tel-Aviv, 2016), China ASEAN festival (Nanning, 2018), ACL International Festival (Kawasaki, 2025), concert series in Tel-Aviv, New York and Buenos Aires . Two of her orchestral pieces won first prizes,”Shearim” in 2006 (Israeli Young Philharmonic Orchestra competition) and “Mal’achei Stav” in 2010 (Acum  Prize-ASAP) ,she was a recipient of Israeli Prime Minister Award for composition (2013), received Acum (ASAP) Prize for her chamber work ‘Casa Tomada’ (2015),won second prize on Red Note International Festival Composition Competition (USA) for her work ‘Snow’(2017) and first prize on Artistes en Herbe Composition Competition (Luxembourg) for her work ‘Aspects of Sarah’ (2020). In 2021 her project "Lucid Dreams" which included her 4 new works was released in Tel-Aviv. In March 2025 her project "Dancers in the Vineyards" in collaboration with pianist Tali Morgulis was released in Houston, USA.
Between 2010-2015 and in 2019, 2023-2024  Epshtein served as a chairperson of Israeli Women Composers Forum, she is a founder and an artistic director of Vox Feminae Music festival in Tel-Aviv.
In 2020 was a part of Israeli Acum (ASAP) Composition Competition Jury, in years 2014-2019 served as a part of Performance Evaluation committee at Israeli Ministry of Culture.  In 2025 was part of jury of Artistes en Herben International Competition in Luxembourg.
2 of her articles were published in Peimot Magazine for Music and Culture (Reisling edition). 
 Alona Epshtein was invited to give lectures and masterclasses in Israel and abroad, lately in Kyoto and Houston Universities.
She was teaching harmony at Open University, currently  is teaching ear training, theory and composition at Rosh-Ha Ayin and Bat Yam conservatories and privately.

Alona Epshtein

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