Music of Remembrance Ensuring That the Voices of Musical Witness Be Heard
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2010-11 SeaSon annual RepoRt music of remembrance ensuring that the voices of musical witness be heard The Green Violinist (1918) by Marc Chagall, courtesy The Jewish Museum, New York music of remembrance ensuring that the voices of musical witness be heard Mission Music of Remembrance fills a unique spiritual and cultural role in Seattle and throughout the world by remembering Holocaust musicians and their art through musical performances, educational programs, musical recordings, and commissions of new works. It is well known that the Nazi regime banned performances of music by living and historical Jewish composers, and by many others they deemed degenerate. Amid the horrors, there were courageous musicians who dared to create even in the ghettos and camps. It is a priceless gift that much of this music has survived as moral and artistic defiance in the face of catastrophe. We must ensure that these voices of musical witness be heard. The Music of Remembrance (MOR) mission is not religious, nor is its scope limited to Jewish music. Although the Holocaust was primarily an assault on Jewish people and culture, others suffered as well in what was history’s most potent instance of totalitarian suppression of intellectual and creative work. Musicians’ resistance took many forms, and crossed many national and religious boundaries. This resistance cannot have been in vain. We remember these musicians by preserving and performing their music. From the depths of human suffering comes the healing beauty of hope and renewal. Mina Miller President & Artistic Director 2010 -11 Board of Directors Advisory Board Katherine Hanson Chair Leon Botstein Gregory Wallace Vice Chair Samuel Brylawski Pamela Center Secretary John Corigliano Margaret Griffiths Treasurer Bob Goldfarb Henry Butler Richard Goode Carole Ellison Speight Jenkins David Epstein Gary Karr Thea Fefer Kurt Masur Toni Freeman Thomas Pasatieri Saul Gamoran Murray Perahia Alice Greenwood Steve Reich Erika Michael Toby Saks Gloria Moses Paul Schoenfield Joyce Rivkin Gerard Schwarz Jon H. Rosen David Shifrin Tina Ryker David Stock Sandra Spear Bret Werb Frederick Yudin Pinchas Zukerman Stanley Zeitz David Sabritt Executive Advisor 2 MOR 2010 -11 Season Annual Report Music with a Mission: The VEDEM Project A letter from the President and Artistic Director Music of Remembrance’s 2010-11 season was a year of significant milestones, and you’ll read about many of those accomplishments in this Annual Report. I’d like to reflect on one of the moments that, for me, made the year especially memorable. If you’ve been following Music of Remembrance, you know about our VEDEM project, launched in 2009 when we commissioned acclaimed composer Lori Laitman to write an oratorio. This exciting new work was to be based upon the story and inspiring words of a group of about 100 teenage boys who dared to create a secret magazine under the noses of their Nazi captors in the Terezín concentration camp. The music was a major triumph in itself, but we also knew from the start that it should be the cornerstone of an extended project – MOR’s VEDEM Project – to bring the legacy of those boys in Terezín to people everywhere. While Lori and her librettist David Mason were crafting the oratorio, we also set admired filmmaker John Sharify to work on a documentary film,The Boys of Terezín. On May 7, 2011 – an evening I’ll never forget – we unveiled the film in a private screening for the friends and supporters at our annual gala event. Two of the six “boys” still Mina Miller alive – now men in their 80s – traveled to Seattle to honor us with their presence. One of them, Sidney Taussig, had the courage and foresight as a 14-year old in Terezín, to bury the VEDEM magazine’s 800 manuscript pages and retrieve them after the camp’s liberation. The other, George Brady, worked tirelessly for decades to ensure the publication of selected poems, stories and illustrations in an extraordinary book. On that evening, we realized that we were sharing something remarkable: uniting generations to make history real and immediate. The music, the film, and witness of survivors who lived that experience; the profound words written nearly seventy years earlier by a group of idealistic teenagers, now sung and read by the young members of Seattle’s Northwest Boychoir. These young choristers were the same age as the “boys of Terezin” then. It was a reminder of something rare that MOR had accomplished: not only to make beautiful music, but to make beautiful music that matters for the world. This is what Music of Remembrance is about, and why I know that our journey has been worth all of the effort. None of this would have been possible without the dedication of our board, our staff, our supporters, our musical colleagues and our other artistic partners. Thank you. Mina Miller Artistic Director Looking Ahead Our 2011-12 season includes What a Life!, the poignant cabaret-like musical revue that Jewish refugee composer Hans Gál wrote and produced for his fellow prisoners in the British internment camp on the Isle of Man where he was interned as an “enemy alien.” We’ll also premiere MOR’s newest commission: Jake Heggie’s Another Sunrise, based on the amazing story of the Polish survivor, resistance fighter, poet and hidden Jew, Krystyna Zywulska. MOR 2010 -11 Season Annual Report 3 A Letter from the Chair of the Board MOR’s thirteenth season – with its theme centered around Jewish folklore — offered thrilling artistic achievements. In the fall, we showcased the avant garde art music of early 20th century Russian composer Joel Engel, which was itself rooted in the rich traditions of Jewish folklore. Just as Music of Remembrance looks to the past to inspire contemporary commissions, Engel’s Dybbuk Suite had been influenced by folk legends and melodies orally transmitted across generations by Hassidic Jews from the Pale of Settlement. MOR’s chamber players performed while Spectrum dancers presented a riveting new MOR commissioned work, by acclaimed choreographer and provocateur Donald Byrd. This extraordinary collaboration of talent resulted in a unique blending of genres that resonated through centuries and stretched across divergent cultures. We were treated to a multidimensional bold new arts experience Forging artistic partnerships of this nature, and breaking new ground by doing so, is perhaps one of MOR’s greatest strengths. This was MOR’s second dance commission with Donald Byrd and Spectrum Dance Theater. Another frequent artistic partner, The Northwest Boychoir, joined MOR in May 2011 to sing at the private premiere screening of The Boys of Terezin, John Sharify’s outstanding documentary film, which is discussed in depth elsewhere in this report. As I see it, the members of our Sostenuto Society and Crescendo Circle – loyal supporters and patrons who make major financial commitments to MOR over three year periods – also serve as partners with MOR. It is through their generous spirit and deep- seated loyalty that we will continue to make exceptional music and art for decades to come. These collaborations, and our commissions and recordings (our fifth CD under the prestigious Naxos label was released in May 2011) testify to the organization’s growth and expansion as Mina Miller’s innovative programming reaches out to new audiences, locally and around the world. MOR’s mission of ensuring that voices of musical witness from the Holocaust era be heard is being embraced by more and more people from all backgrounds. Serving as Chair for Music of Remembrance’s Board of Directors is truly a privilege. I feel tremendous gratitude to all who breathe life into this unique organization: enthusiastic audiences and supporters, dedicated Board members and volunteers, a first-rate staff, extraordinary musicians and artists, and, not least, our visionary Artistic Director! Katherine Hanson 2010-11 Board Chair MOR Commissions David Stock A Vanished World 1999 Aharon Harlap Pictures from the Private Collection Paul Schoenfield Camp Songs 2002 of God 2009 Thomas Pasatieri Letter to Warsaw 2003 Donald Byrd choreography to Franz Lori Laitman The Seed of Dream 2004 Schreker’s The Wind 2009 Gerard Schwarz In Memoriam 2005 Lori Laitman Vedem 2010 Jake Heggie For a Look or a Touch 2007 Donald Byrd choreography to Joel Engel’s Gerard Schwarz Rudolf & Jeanette 2007 The Dybbuk Suite 2010 David Stock Mayn Shvester Chaya 2008 Betty Olivero Kolo’t 2011 Paul Schoenfield Ghetto Songs 2008 MOR’s supporters have funded the creation of twelve new musical works by eight composers, and two dance choreographies. 4 MOR 2010 -11 Season Annual Report A REPORT ON MOR’S 2010 -11 SEASON Mainstage Programming: Fall and Spring Concerts Since its 1998-99 inaugural year, MOR has presented two major concerts annually at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall: a fall concert marking the anniversary of Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass), and a spring concert marking Holocaust Remembrance Day. We present music from the time of the Holocaust and contemporary compositions inspired by the Holocaust. Photography Santiago Leo by photos artist All Each season MOR’s programming has highlighted a central theme. In 2010-11, our Spectrum Dance thirteenth season, we illuminated Jewish folklore and its influence on composers of yesterday Theater artists Joel and today. At our November 2010 concert, we explored the complexity of Russian-Jewish Myers and Kylie Lewallen, November identity in the first half of the 20th century. Our audience experienced the original music 8, 2010. (Left for S. Ansky’s iconic Yiddish play The Dybbuk, with the added dimension of a new dance score to right) Mikhail that we commissioned from acclaimed choreographer Donald Byrd. We also performed Shmidt, Leonid Dmitri Shostakovich’s stirring From Jewish Folk Poetry. In May 2011, we revisited Israeli composer Keylin, Matthew Betty Olivero’s thrilling suite of dance music from her score to the classic silent filmThe Kocmieroski and Jonathan Green.