Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou

In 2006, the legendary Éthiopiques collection by Francis Falcetto released album no. 21 in the series, presenting the musical compositions of Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, a 98-year-old Ethiopian nun living in an Ethiopian monastery in Jerusalem. This album affected Dunietz tremendously and together with conductor Ilan Volkov, she sought out to find emahoy in Jerusalem. They indeed found her and held a very personal and touching meeting, opening an artistic dialogue between them. Two years after their initial meeting, Emahoy approached Dunietz in a request for collaboration, their friendship evolved and, since then, Dunietz has been working to make the music and fascinating life of Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou better known.

In 2013 Dunietz initiated and directed a unique tribute to Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou in the framework of the Jerusalem Season of Culture, which included the first ever publication of Guèbrou’s piano pieces in a music sheet book, and a series of concerts performed by Dunietz and international musicians, including a rare performance by the Ethiopian Church Choir, presenting Emahoy’s abundance of celebrated compositions created over 90 years of life (and still counting...). Dunietz has been performing recitals of Emahoy’s music around the World, including Clandestino Festival, Jerusalem Jazz Festival, Cafe Oto London, Only Connect Festival Oslo and many more.