Abington Choral Club’s 5/6/23 concert features three noted works by composer Charles Davidson, a brilliant and highly prolific musician. A longtime resident of Elkins Park, his compositions are works of integrity and his hallmark is modesty.
For over four decades he served with distinction as the Cantor of Congregation Adath Jeshurun of Elkins Park. In teaching countless children and adults to sing, he helped to shape the lives of innumerable families. He remains a man of implacable faith and fidelity to both secular and liturgical music.
Among Cantor Davidson’s compositions are choral settings that have been performed thousands of times throughout America by high school, college and community choirs such as the Abington Choral Club.
His most celebrated composition is the monumental choral song cycle, “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” based on a collection of poetry by Jewish children imprisoned in Terezin Concentration Camp during WWII. It has been performed all over the world to critical acclaim and is the subject of two award-winning PBS documentaries.
First drawn to composing when he was in a Pittsburgh high school chorus, Charles Davidson has been a musical virtuoso since his public school days. Today he is one of our nation’s most frequently commissioned composers. He is the editor of “Gates of Song,” a collection of congregational melodies and hymns, and is the founder of Ashbourne Music Publishing Co., which has a catalog of over 300 musical compositions.
Charles Davidson earned a Doctorate in Sacred Music from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he served on its faculty, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He continues to compose music in his Elkins Park home to the delight of his many admirers.
— by Ira Cooperman