Art from Ashes: International Holocaust Remembrance Day Concert

Art from Ashes: International Holocaust Remembrance Day Concert

Jan 23, 2017 - 12:00 pm

Music of Remembrance (MOR) presents a free community concert at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall to honor International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

On January 27, 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, was liberated by the Soviet army. On Monday, January 23, 2017, Music of Remembrance (MOR) presents a community-wide free concert to honor this important moment in history, and commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The musical program features music from the Terezín and Vilna Ghettos, and works by composers whose lives were cut short by Nazi persecution: Hans Krása, Gideon Klein, Ilse Weber, Laszlo Weiner, and Dick Kattenburg. Featuring stellar instrumentalists drawn largely from the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and some of the region’s finest vocal talents. MOR is a non-profit organization founded in 1998 by Artistic Director Mina Miller to remember the Holocaust through music.

This concert is presented with generous support from Jack and Adina Almo.

Program
 
Before the Ark (1987)
Simon Sargon (b. Mumbai, India, 1938)
Takumi Taguchi,* violin; Mina Miller, piano
MOR 2013 David Tonkonogui Memorial Award Recipient
 
Dance (Terezín, 1943)
Hans Krása (b. Prague, 1899 – d. Auschwitz, 1944)
Mikhail Shmidt, violin; Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola; Mara Finkelstein, cello

Duo (1941)
Gideon Klein (b. Perov, Czechoslovakia, 1919 – d. Fürstengrube concentration camp, 1945)
Allegro con fuoco
Lento
Leonid Keylin, violin; Mara Finkelstein, cello  
 
Songs and Satire from Terezín
A Suitcase Speaks
Ilse Weber (b. Vitkovice, 1903 – d. Auschwitz, 1944)
 
Little Cafe in Terezín
Music: Viennese popular melody

Carousel
Music: Martin Roman(b. 1910, Berlin – 1996, NJ)
Lyrics: Manfred Grieffenhagen (b. 1895 – d. Dachau, 1945)

Julia Benzinger, mezzo soprano; Erich Parce, baritone; Mina Miller, piano
 
Duo for Violin and Viola (1939)
Lazslo Weiner(b. Szombathely, Hungary – d. Lukov labor camp, 1944)
I. Moderato
Mikhail Shmidt, violin; Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola
 
“Lullaby” from In Sleep The World Is Yours* (2013)
Lori Laitman(b. Long Beach, New York, 1955)
Poetry by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger(b. Czernowitz, Romania, 1924 – d. Michailowka labor camp, Ukraine, 1942)
Sarah Davis, soprano; Laura Deluca, clarinet; Mina Miller, piano
 
Romanian Melody (1941)
Dick Kattenburg(b. Amsterdam, 1919 – d. Auschwitz, 1944) 
Leonid Keylin, violin; Mara Finkelstein, cello; Mina Miller, piano
 
From the Vilna Ghetto
S’dremlen feygl (Birds Sit Drowsing)
Music: traditional
Text: Lea Rudnitska (b. Kalwarija, Lithuania, 1916 – d. Majdanek, 1943)
 
Shtiler, Shtiler (Quiet, Quiet)
Music: Aleksander Volkoviski (b. Vilnius, 1931) 
Text: Shmerke Kaczerginski(b. Vilna, 1908 – d. 1954)
Julia Benzinger, mezzo soprano; Mikhail Shmidt, violin; Takumi Taguchi, violin; Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola; Mara Finkelstein, cello; Jonathan Green, double bass
 
Farewell, Auschwitz, from Out of Darkness* (2016)
Jake Heggie(b. West Palm Beacfh, FL, 1961)
Poetry written in Auschwitz by Krystyna Zywulska
Sarah Davis, soprano; Julia Benzinger, mezzo soprano; Erich Parce, baritone; Laura DeLuca, clarinet; Mikhail Shmidt, violin; Mara Finkelstein, cello; Jonathan Green, double bass; Mina Miller, piano
 
*Works commissioned by Music of Remembrance
 
 
About Music of Remembrance
Founded in 1998 by pianist Mina Miller, Music of Remembrance (MOR) fills a unique role throughout the world by remembering the Holocaust through music with concert performances, educational programs, recordings and commissions of new works. Along with its large and varied repertoire of Holocaust-era music, MOR commissions and premieres new Holocaust-inspired works by some of today’s leading composers, building bridges across generations and sharing stories that underline the Holocaust’s urgent relevance for us today.

The Music of Remembrance mission is not religious nor is its scope limited to Jewish music or experience. Our programs have also focused on the Holocaust’s impact on homosexuals, women, children, Roma, political prisoners and courageous free-thinkers.

MOR has reached audiences around the world through its seven CDs on Naxos, the world’s leading classical music label, and its two documentary films produced by award-winning filmmaker John Sharify.