Sunday, October 4, 2026
As Americans prepare to celebrate Independence Day, Valley Stream composer Leonard J. Lehrman and vocalist Helene Williams will be taking that celebration overseas.
The co-founders of Court Street Music will depart Monday for Romania, where they will lead a workshop and perform in two concerts in Bucharest on July 1 and July 3. The programs will emphasize American music as part of the nation’s 250th-anniversary commemoration.
The trip marks Lehrman and Williams’ first return to Europe since 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. That year, an opera Lehrman wrote about Rosa Luxemburg opened the Lüneburg New Music Festival in Germany before the pair traveled through Romania to trace Williams’ paternal ancestry. They also performed in Sighet, the hometown of Elie Wiesel, an experience that sparked Lehrman’s interest in Romanian poetry and music.
Following that visit, Lehrman composed a cycle of five songs inspired by Romania. There are three settings of poems by the country’s national poet, Mihai Eminescu, translated into English using French, German, and Italian translations, with assistance from native Romanian speakers. Two additional songs were based on poetry by Zygmund Tauberg after his daughter, event organizer Liana Tauberg, introduced Lehrman to her father’s work during the couple’s stay in Bucharest.
“I’m very excited to have people singing my music, particularly in their native language, which I’ve never heard before, or at least haven’t heard all of the songs,” Lehrman said. “I’ve heard a couple of them over the years; one or two or three have been sung in the videos that have been sent to me, and this time, though, I’ll be accompanying myself, which should be a really thrilling experience.”
The songs have since been performed in a variety of settings, including at Bryant Library and, in the case of “Aventura,” as the basis for a ballet in Florida. On July 3, the complete five-song cycle will receive its first performance entirely in Romanian at Galeria Romana in Bucharest. Soprano Simona Nicoletta Jidveanu will perform the works with Lehrman at the piano, and Zygmund Tauberg plans to attend.
Before that concert, Lehrman and Williams will lead a workshop and recital July 1 at Bucharest’s Jewish Community Center with four Romanian opera singers.
“Helene and I saw this kind of mom-and-pop situation where one would work on interpretation and music, and one would work on vocal technique, and they really were a team that was worth watching and learning from,” Lehrman said. “That’s what I aspire to do with Helene when we go to Bucharest.”
The program will include songs and opera excerpts by Georges Bizet, Gaetano Donizetti, Wolseley Charles, Douglas Moore, Elie Siegmeister, Walter Gross and Lehrman.
Before leaving for Romania, Lehrman and Williams will host the 26th annual Court Street Music House Concert at 2 p.m. on Saturday at their Valley Stream home.
The free concert will feature guest performers mezzo-soprano Perri Sussman, baritone Michael Niemann, baritenor Thomas Smith, violinist Daniel Hyman, cellist Janet Holmes and folk singer Pat Lamanna, along with appearances by composer Joel Mandelbaum and poet Helen Engelhardt.
Among the featured performances will be the world premiere of Lehrman’s setting of Engelhardt’s poem, “You Came to Me,” for voice and violin. Holmes will perform Lehrman’s arrangement for cello and piano of “Where Do I Belong?” from his musical portrait of Emma Goldman. This work brought Lehrman and Williams together after she auditioned for the production in 1987 and later served as the processional at their 2002 wedding.
The concert will also include a tribute to the late composer Philip Aaberg with a performance of his “O Shenandoah,” as well as music by Phil Ochs and Pete Seeger led by Lamanna. Audience members will be invited to participate in several selections, including “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and Lehrman’s and Christina Starobin’s immigration anthem, “Lady Liberty.”
Additional chamber music on the program will feature works by Anatoliy Kos-Anatolsky, Bohuslav Martinů, Rebecca Clarke and Robert Schumann.
“The audience for what we used to call serious music, and that is now called classical music, or concert music, is dwindling terribly,” Lehrman said. “Mostly because of the terrible lack of music education that used to be in the schools, but is sorely missing now, and we really want to attract audiences to pieces that deserve to be listened to.”
The Court Street Music House Concert is free and open to the public. Reservations are requested by calling (516) 825-2939 or emailing leonardjlehrman@gmail.com.
