Dark am I

"...Ella Milch-Sheriff and Keren Hadar took the well known biblical story and blended it into an exotic and ethnic mix that walks in the markets in tastes and odors, with phrases from the Middle East combined with Kurt Weill and music from the Renaissance.
And it all combines together: the Song of Songs is built into a story and the music intensifies the divine text about one, bigger than life, love story.

Sheriff's use of different kind of drums combined with the English horn, double bass, viola, cello and piano which sounds here like a middle-eastern instrument, and the great esthetics of the writing and melodies  create a tremendous feat.

This is a peak of the Israel Festival and of these two incredible creators."
Ma'ariv,  Israel 2007

"Dark Am I... is a wonderful musical composition. The music of Ella Milch-sheriff is comprehensive and conquering and the performance by Keren Hadar,..., gave us a mesmerizing experience and a wonderful evening to remember."
Danny Bloch, Israeli Radio, 2007
"...Ella Milch-Sheriff composed in various styles exciting music to the special editing of "Song of Songs", and soprano Keren Hadar, with her ultimate stage presence, presented it in a way that brought the audience to a standing ovation even during the performance."
Ha'aretz, Israel 2007

And the Rat Laughed
“I was trembling with excitement. It was shocking in the inner force of Nava Semel’s text and libretto. It was spine-chilling in the quality of Ella Milch-Sheriff’s music.
I could hear how the tears pouring from the music, how it began to cry... This is one of the most superb operas ever written in Israel... It was stirring to hear choral pieces so electrifying in their poetry. And what a profound and brilliant orchestration.
It is not just an opera, it is an event.”
Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel 2005


 “...it is the music which elevates the story to the point of manifesting in its own unique plane: on the one hand it is contemporary with no conspicuous structure that can be easily defined, it is sometimes intentionally disharmonic and chromatic.
The opera is not built in the standard classic-romantic, recitative - aria form; it is a musical drama sung throughout, with many capturing harmonic and melodic passages. ...
This artistic framework, which uniquely combines opera and theatre, is a spellbinding experience from start to finish."
Ha’aretz, Israel 2005
Can heaven be void? / Ist der Himmel leer?

George Bernard Shaw said: "A music critic is a person waiting for a miracle" and this time the miracle happened.
Ella Sheriff presents her composition "Can Heaven Be Void". This work flows like a running streetcar passing along buildings in different emotional realms, which fall upon it to merge into one single body. What an exiting revelation.

The music is built upon fragments of the terrible holocaust memoirs of Dr. Baruch Milch, the father of the composer. Its impact derives from its simplicity, from its asceticism.
Mrs. Sheriff does not whine nor does she scream out. Quite to the contrary. That is why it is so powerful. Jewish and Christian musical motives create a terrifying echo. The text (edited by Shosh Avigal) holds a sharp dialogue with the music.

The philosopher Isiah Berlin said: "No art in the world is capable of expressing the awesome events of the holocaust". It is a pity that he did not hear this shuddering work.
Yediot Acharonot, Israel 2003
" ... The work of Ella Milch-Sheriff deals with the most horrifying fragments of her father's diary written during the holocaust in Poland.
"Can Heaven Be Void", the title of the cantata composed by Mrs. Sheriff, expresses the scream of Dr. Milch in view of God's silence during those terrible days.
... its impact is way beyond all expectations. Sheriff succeeded in creating music which is subordinate to the words and which, without any pathos, strengthens, decorates and accentuates them..."
Ha'aretz, Isreal 2003