Sargon, Simon
Sargon, Simon
Sargon, Simon, Indian-born American pianist and composer; b. Bombay (of Sephardic, Russian-Jewish, and Indian descent), April 6, 1938. He took private piano lessons with Horszowski, studied theory at Brandeis Univ. (B.A., 1959) and composition with Persichetti at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (M.S., 1962), and took a course with Milhaud at the Aspen (Colo.) School of Music. He was a teacher at Sarah Lawrence Coll. in Bronxville, N.Y. (1965–68), at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem (1971–74), where he served as head of the voice dept., and at Hebrew Univ. in Jerusalem (1973–74). In 1974 he was appointed music director at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas.
Works
DRAMATIC : Thirst, chamber opera, after Eugene O’Neill (Jerusalem, Dec. 17, 1972); A Voice Still and Small, children’s musical play (Dallas, Dec. 6, 1981); Saul, King of Israel, opera (1990). ORCH .: Sym., Holocaust, for Baritone, Men’s Chorus, and Orch. (1985); Questings, horn concerto (1987). VOCAL : 3 cantatas: Elul: Midnight (Dallas, Sept. 17, 1976), Flame of the Lord (Dallas, May 31, 1977), and Visions of Micah (Dallas, April 30, 1980); Not by Might, oratorio, after the Books of the Maccabees (Dallas, Dec. 16, 1979); temple services; songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire