“. . . The program ended, appropriately, with a performance by Face the Music, an ensemble of two dozen students from the Special Music School . . . the premiere of a new version of Ira J. Mowitz’s Kol Aharon...The solo violin part is demanding: fidgety music that shifts from virtuosic flights to elegiac musings. Often the solo violin floats almost unperturbed over the atmospheric hum of the ensemble, enriched with a digital soundtrack that includes the mumbling voice of the composer’s young son.”

Ira J. Mowitz: À la Memoire d’un Ami:
“. . . Sound piped in by sad, benevolent aliens. Death is the title pieces subject, and the sense of space and loneliness is astounding. Mowitz’s rich, booming, unidentifiable sounds weep in some vast acoustic of the imagination. Not much happens, or needs to. Darkening and Shimmering synthesize the wind in impressionism of pure timbre. Snobs may mistake it for new Age, but there’s nothing cheesy about Mowitz's timbre, nor simple about his haunting melodic forms.”

… Perfect Pitch to EAR 
by Richard S. Ginell

“...The EAR unit opened the concert with Ira J. Mowitz’s gorgeous, gentle, instantly-appealing Shimmerings . . .”

Cause to Celebrate at Merkin Hall 
by Barrymore Laurence Schere

“. . . with Ira Mowitz's Kol Aharon for solo violin, mixed ensemble and digital soundtrack, the works confirmed how good the room still sounds, and how responsive it is to music at all dynamic levels.

Joanne Cossa (executive director, American Music Center) talks with Robert Siegel:
“. . . Ira J.Mowitz wrote a piece which is very, very different from all the others. It has a very bouncy, pop music feel and a very engaging melody and rhythm. It reminds me of music from the ’60s, from movies and television shows and yet in the middle of it every once in a while you hear one of his children say “Hello, I’m coming”. . . I’ll bet you 9 out of 10 people who get this on hold would be sitting there, moving their head back and forth, moving their shoulders. I think everybody can respond to this . . .”

Link to NPR Article

The Century List: 100 Reasons to Play This Century’s Music:
”. . . If you think that there is no listener-friendly computer music, please listen to this. It couldn’t have been more emotionally moving if it were being played by “real” musicians!”

Kaufman Center’s Curtain Raiser
by Masha Leon

“. . . The evening’s feel good hit may well have been Face the Music, an ensemble of two dozen members of Special Music School P.S. 859 — a New York City public school for 135 gifted children — that performed Ira Mowitz’s Kol Aharon (Aaron’s Voice). Directed by Jennry Undercofler, “Kol Aharon” was commissioned by the Special Music School for this gala evening, and, along with trumpet, cello, bass, flute, horn and viola, included an intriguing digital soundtrack.”

Kaufman Center Celebrates Renovation, Garner Praise
by Amanda Gordon

“. . . The stars or the night were the child musicians. Violinist Haley Gillia, 12, aced her solo in Ira Mowitz’s Kol Aharon performed by the Face the Music ensemble.”

“. . . Shimmerings surrounds a recording of his computer-generate music with the sounds of seven varied instruments. The end result is best described by its title. Artificial intelligence meets the real article – and the composer was there to tell us about it.”

Present Music, Danceworks Mesh Perfectly
by Tom Strini, music critic

“. . . The Mowitz music is sweet to the brink of sentimentality . . . As Mowitz uses the taped voices of children and nursery-rhyme tunes . . . One wrong note of exaggeration would have pushed this dance into the maudlin, but their artlessness was impeccable.”

A concert to be thankful for 
by Tom Strini, music critic

“...A concert to be thankful for...Ira Mowitz’s Kol Aharon for tape and violin parallels Berio’s Naturale in some ways. Instead of street singer, Mowitz put sounds of his infant son on tape. Some are recognizable baby gurglings, others are manipulated and abstracted into musical drones and even chords. The violin part, played with great intensity by Eric Segnitz, is a florid recitative.”