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Lincoln Center Festival lead support is provided by American Express
July 19 Alice Tully Hall Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of an Assassination
North American premiere
Director Amos Gitai Writers Amos Gitai and Marie-José Sanselme Lighting Design Jean Kalman
Cast Leah Rabin Sarah Adler, Einat Weizman Piano Edna Stern Soprano Keren Motseri Violin Alexey Kochetkov
Music J.S. Bach, Jürg Frey, Louis Lewandowski, Luigi Nono
Approximate performance time: 1 hour and 30 minutes, with no intermission
This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Public support for Festival 2017 is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. 07-19 Chronicle of an Assassination.qxp_Gp 3.qxt 7/10/17 3:12 PM Page 2
LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 YITZHAK RABIN: CHRONICLE OF AN ASSASSINATION
A Note from the Director Five voices intertwined in a recitative mode, “between lament and lullaby, ”retrace the If you’d asked him, that Saturday morn - course of history and the incredible violence ing, if he’d ever thought it might happen, with which the nationalist forces opposed he would have said, “No, never!” He left the project of peace by tearing the country with confidence and peace of mind. He apart. They are heard as if “in an echo cham - never agreed to wear a bulletproof vest. ber” between images of documentation and He wasn’t at all concerned about his per - excerpts from classical literature—the living sonal safety. I must admit, I wasn’t either. memory that has always accompanied my I trusted his bodyguards. The idea that understanding of the world. something might happen never crossed my mind. There had been some warn - For me, the best tribute an artist can give to ings, but we didn’t think about them. We his own culture is to be critical. The assassi - refused to think about them. We never nation of Rabin 22 years ago marks a turning imagined that something so savage, cruel point in the contemporary history of Israel. and senseless could ever happen. And we still live with the consequences of this brutal act. The Israeli-Palestinian dia - Those I really blame—and I think about logue, which is crucial for the Middle East, this constantly despite the pain it causes has been gradually stopped and decapitated. me—are the teachers who cultivated In this context, the problem of the artist: the weed of hate and the politicians who What to do when living next to a volcano? referred to Yitzhak as an assassin and a What artistic form can one propose? traitor. They accused him of leading the people astray; they spread certain ideas A few years ago we decided to do this and views that led to the emergence of project on the assassination of Rabin as a a faction that believed it was a religious gesture of memory and even hope. duty to kill Yitzhak, a man they claimed Sometimes resurrecting a memory can was selling out Israel, Israel which is make things happen. But we must remain more sacred than the life of a man. I modest: Art is not the most effective way to can’t even get angry. I feel no anger. I’m change reality. Politics or machine guns have not able to. I’m not able to feel anger. a much more direct effect. However, art Just pain. sometimes preserves the memory when the powers in place want to erase it: They want —Leah Rabin, November 1995 obedience, they do not want to be disturbed Excerpt from Amos Gitai’s film or challenged. So I felt the necessity of Rabin—The Last Day (2015) dealing with this particular event, the assassination of Rabin, through different forms, with all the resonance that creates. Performed by two actresses, two musi - After a narrative feature film and parallel cians, and a soprano in a dialogue with exhibitions, it is time for the stage. The idea archival images and excerpts from world of this three-faceted presentation is political. literature (Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare, It is a community gesture. Ecclesiastes), this fable explores the political circumstances that led to the assassination In my projects, I like to confront space, of Yitzhak Rabin and the tearing apart of whether a film, an exhibition, or a live perfor - Israeli society. mance. The piece is told from the point of view of Leah, Rabin’s widow, a role embodied 07-19 Chronicle of an Assassination.qxp_Gp 3.qxt 7/10/17 3:12 PM Page 3
LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 YITZHAK RABIN: CHRONICLE OF AN ASSASSINATION
by Israeli actresses Sarah Adler and Einat July 1994 Weizman, sharing their memories of the Demonstration by right and far-right parties assassination as if they were telling a tale. in Zion Square in Jerusalem. Standing above a banner that reads “Death to Arafat,” Likud The onstage musicians bring a lyrical pres - Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu tells the ence or counterpoint. Pianist Edna Stern crowd to go everywhere and demonstrate plays the preludes of Johann Sebastian against the government. Bach. Soprano Keren Motseri performs Luigi Nono’s Djamila and a Jewish prayer, October 14, 1994 accompanied by violinist Alexey Kochetkov. Rabin, Arafat, and Shimon Peres are Music by Jürg Frey and Louis Lewandowski awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. is also performed. Autumn 1994 For us, who allow the events of this histori - Beginning of a series of attacks by cal narrative to circulate in our minds, reality Palestinian terrorist organizations in Israeli is a juxtaposition of the fragments engraved urban centers. Rabin’s political position is in the collective memory. weakened. Settlers, radical rabbis, and far-right movements launch a campaign to —Amos Gitai, April 2017 undermine Rabin, now called a “traitor.”
April–October 1995 Attacks against Rabin intensify by settler newspapers and the far right. In a weekly newspaper, a psychologist diagnoses Rabin A Timeline of Events as a schizophrenic who should be commit - ted. Op-ed writers compare him to Pétain 1992 and his “satanic” government to Vichy. Head of the Israeli Labor Party Yitzhak Rabin wins the elections and forms his second Summer 1995 government as Prime Minister. He changes The Zo Artzeinu (“this is our land”) move - the priorities of the Israeli government, ment organizes actions around the country. investing more in education and infrastruc - Led by Netanyahu, demonstrators display a ture, and reducing financing for the coffin with the inscription “Rabin is killing colonies. Zionism.” Chief Rabbi Goren asks soldiers evacuating settlements as per the Oslo September 1993 Accords to disobey their orders. Rabin Signing of the Oslo Accords in Washington. receives death threats. Rabin, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, and U.S. President Bill Clinton establish the September 28, 1995 foundations of Palestinian autonomy to Signing in Washington of an Interim bring peace to the region. Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (or Oslo II), which calls for the creation of areas in the territories in which Israeli and Palestinian control would apply differently, as a temporary measure while waiting for the completion of the peace negotiations. 07-19 Chronicle of an Assassination.qxp_Gp 3.qxt 7/10/17 3:12 PM Page 4
LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 YITZHAK RABIN: CHRONICLE OF AN ASSASSINATION
October 5, 1995 November 3, 1995 Huge gathering of the far right and settlers Student Yigal Amir takes part in a demon - in Zion Square in Jerusalem. In front of TV stration in front of Rabin’s house. The cameras, posters showing Rabin dressed demonstrators threaten to “hang Leah up as an SS officer are torn apart. The Rabin by her feet with her husband, like crowd shouts “Death to Rabin” and Mussolini and his mistress.” “Rabin Traitor.” Netanyahu encourages demonstrators to oppose the Oslo November 4, 1995 Accords. A frenzied crowd marches on the A rally “for peace and against violence” is Knesset where the Oslo II vote is taking organized at the Kings of Israel Square in Tel- place. Official cars are attacked. The Aviv, attended by Rabin, Peres, and ambas - events are shown on TV, which Netanyahu sadors from Arab countries. With 200,000 denies any responsibility for. participants, it is a huge success. As he is leaving the rally, Rabin is killed by Yigal Amir, October 6, 1995 a student with ties to far-right movements. Itamar Ben-Gvir, a young far-right radical, brandishes Rabin’s Cadillac’s emblem in November 19, 1995 front of a journalist, declaring that it is possi - Judge Meir Shamgar, former President of ble to get to Rabin himself. the Supreme Court, is tasked with leading a State investigation into the circumstances October 10, 1995 of the Prime Minister’s assassination. Rabin is attacked by rabbi Natan Ofir during an official ceremony. The question of the November 1995—March 1996 security of the Prime Minister is raised by The commission studies 4,072 testimonies experts and in the press. and hears 72 people. A few officers from the secret service and the police quit, or are October 25, 1995 fired or demoted. The report given to the In front of the official residence of the Prime head of the government contains a classi - Minister, rabbi Avigdor Eskin organizes a fied section, which isn’t made public. Pulsa diNura, a medieval ceremony sup - posed to call death on Rabin. May 1996 Netanyahu wins the election. 07-19 Chronicle of an Assassination.qxp_Gp 3.qxt 7/10/17 3:12 PM Page 5
LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 YITZHAK RABIN: CHRONICLE OF AN ASSASSINATION
About the Creative Team Jean Kalman (Lighting Design) has worked extensively as designer, lighting designer, and visual artist for dance, theater, and opera Amos Gitai (Director and Writer) was an since 1979. He has collaborated on stage architecture student in 1973 when the Yom productions with directors such as Peter Kippur War broke out. The helicopter that Brook, Lev Dodin, Deborah Warner, Richard carried him and his unit of emergency Eyre, Robert Carsen, Adrian Noble, and medics was shot down by a missile, an Pierre Audi; dancers and choreographers episode he alludes to in his 2000 film Kippur . such as Kazuo Ohno, Min Tanaka, and Kim After the war, he began directing short films Brandstrup; visual artists such as Karel for Israeli public television, which has now Appel, Richard Serra, Georg Baselitz, Iannis gone out of business. In 1980 his first Kounellis, Anish Kapoor, and Amos Gitai; and documentary, Bayit (The House ), a portrait of composers such as Mauricio Kagel, Heiner Israelis and Palestinians living or having lived Goebbels, and Misato Mochizuki. In 1991 he in the same Jerusalem house, was censored. received the Lawrence Olivier Award for Two years later, the controversy created by Best Lighting Design, and won the Drama Field Diary , shot before and during the Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design invasion of Lebanon, drove him to exile, a in 1997 and 2011. Since 2012 he has been situation that inspired his first fiction features, an associated artist with the Royal Esther Forever (1985), Berlin-Jerusalem Shakespeare Company. In 2008 he was (1989), and Golem: The Spirit of Exile (1991). designer and lighting designer for Amos He returned to Israel in 1993, the year of the Gitai’s La Guerre des Fils des Ténèbres at signing in Washington of the Oslo I Accord, Festival d’Avignon. promoted by Yitzhak Rabin. This marked the beginning of a period of intense activity Laurent Truchot (Producer) has worked on during which he directed documentaries and Amos Gitai’s films since 1988. Among his fiction films—creating an aesthetic dialogue producing credits are Gitai’s Berlin- between the two genres—as well as plays, Jerusalem, Wadi 1981-1991, Birth of a and supervised exhibitions. For the past 40 Golem, Golem: The Spirit of Exile, Zihron years, he has been building a body of work Devarim, Metamorphosis of a Melody, War that is at once universal, politically conscious, and Peace in Vesoul, Yom Yom, Kadosh, and optimistic, intrinsically marrying the Kippur, Eden, Kedma, September 11 (seg - intimate, the political, and the poetic to ment), Alila, Promised Land, Free Zone, pursue a deep quest for hope without losing Disengagement, One Day You’ll Understand, his critical edge. Carmel, Roses à Credit, Lullaby to My Father, Ana Arabia, Words with Gods (seg - Marie-José Sanselme (Writer) has co-writ - ment), Tsili, and Rabin—The Last Day . ten screenplays with director Amos Gitai since their first collaboration on Kippur in 2000. Subsequently, the pair co-wrote Gitai’s films Eden, September 11 (segment), Kedma, Alila, Promised Land, Free Zone, Disengagement, One Day You’ll Understand, Roses à Credit, Ana Arabia, and Rabin—The Last Day . 07-19 Chronicle of an Assassination.qxp_Gp 3.qxt 7/10/17 3:12 PM Page 6
LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 YITZHAK RABIN: CHRONICLE OF AN ASSASSINATION
About the Artists Gramophone’s Best Upcoming Artist. She has performed at prestigious halls and fes - tivals such as the Olympia and Châtelet Sarah Adler (Leah Rabin) is a French and Theater in Paris, La Roque d’Anthéron Israeli actress who has acted in the films Festival, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Jellyfish , directed by Etgar Keret and Shira Munich’s Hekulessaal, Moscow’s Music- Geffen; Stones, directed by Raphael Nadjari; House, Petronas in Kuala Lumpur, and Notre Musique, directed by Jean-Luc Musashino Hall in Tokyo; performing in Godard; and Marie Antoinette , directed by solo recitals and with orchestras led by Sofia Coppola. She was nominated for the such conductors as Claus Peter Flor and European Film Award for Best Actress for Andris Nelsons. She gives master classes her performance in Notre Musique , and the in such places as the CNSM of Paris, Ophir Award for Best Actress for her perfor - Rutgers University, and Tel-Aviv’s mance in Jellyfish, which also won the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music. She Cannes Film Festival’s Caméra d’Or prize. has taught at the Royal College of London She has collaborated twice with Amos Gitai since 2009. She has also worked with on his films Ana Arabia and Tsili . In 2015 she artists in other fields like film director Amos played the title role in Aya, which was nomi - Gitai and Agnès Letestu, first ballerina from nated for an Academy Award for Best Short the Paris Opera. Film. Keren Motseri (Soprano) has established Einat Weizman (Leah Rabin) is an Israeli herself as a versatile singer in repertoire actress who has worked in films, on televi - ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st sion, and onstage in her native country for century in both concert and opera. Her opera more than two decades. Her film work performances include works by Handel, includes director Amos Gitai’s Rabin—The Mozart, Offenbach, and Smetana, and Last Day, along with Shoshana, Center extend into the contemporary repertoire of Forward ; Bethlehem Prisoners ; Columbian Pascal Dusapin, George Benjamin, Klaas de Love ; and Fictions . On TV, she starred in the Vries, and Oscar Bianchi. Her appearances series When Will We Kiss?, Epidural, and include her debut at Festival d’Aix-en- Operation Grandmother . Her stage work Provence as Lei in Pascal Dusapin’s opera includes Shame, Palestine Year Zero, and Passion (with Ensemble Modern and con - The 112 House: A Lesson in Political ductor Franck Ollu); Vita in the world pre - Construction, all of which she acted in, miere of Klaas de Vries’s Wake , with a wrote, and directed. libretto by David Mitchell; A Young Woman in the Night in the world premiere of Oscar Edna Stern (Piano) began her studies in Bianchi’s Thanks to My Eyes (libretto and Israel with Viktor Derevianko, a student of direction by Joël Pommerat); and George Heinrich Neuhaus. She continued studying Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill . Some of these with Krystian Zimerman at the Basel roles were specifically composed for her Hochschule and with Leon Fleisher at the voice. Notable concert performances have Peabody Institute and the Lake Como been with the Nederlandse Bach Vereniging International Piano Foundation. Her reper - (with conductors Richard Egarr and Jos van toire ranges from Bach to Berio. Her Veldhoven), the Residentie Orkest (Jaap van recordings are highly praised by critics, Zweden), the Asko/Schönberg (Reinbert de receiving such awards as Diapason d’Or, Leeuw and Etienne Siebens), Dutch Diapason Découverte, Arte Best CD, and Radio Philharmonic (Peter Eötvös), and 07-19 Chronicle of an Assassination.qxp_Gp 3.qxt 7/10/17 3:12 PM Page 7
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MusikFabrik (Daniel Reuss). She is regularly he was already performing onstage and by invited to international festivals such as seventeen he traveled abroad for the first Holland Festival in Amsterdam, Festival time with a Russian country music band d’Automne à Paris, Sacrum Profanum called the Country Bandits, which came in Festival in Krakow, Utrecht Early Music second in the European World of Bluegrass Festival, and Festival de Musica Antiga in Festival in Holland in 2001. At age 19 he Barcelona. As an interpreter of contempo - completed his studies at Smolensk Music rary music, she has worked all over Europe College and decided to move to the Middle with such composers as Kaija Saariaho, East, living and playing for a decade in Israel Steve Reich, and Louis Andriessen. where he studied at the prestigious Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, Alexey Kochetkov (Violin) was born in crafting Klezmer and Arabic melodies into his Russia and now lives in Berlin, performing own modern style. It was here he was given Oriental-Arabic music and collaborating with the nickname Aletchko that later became the world music artists, including newcomers name of his solo project and, as he says, from Syria and the Middle East. He is soloist reflects his musical personality as a mixture and spiritual leader of the bands Aletchko, of East and West. Berlin Oriental Group, and the Wedding Orchestra for Middle Eastern Music. He Amos Gitai Acknowledgments started studying music at the age of four and Producers EH Arts International started playing violin at age six. By age eight Laurent Truchot, Elisabeth Hayes 07-19 Chronicle of an Assassination.qxp_Gp 3.qxt 7/10/17 3:12 PM Page 8
LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2017 YITZHAK RABIN: CHRONICLE OF AN ASSASSINATION
Lincoln Center Festival, now in its 22nd List Art Project, Midsummer Night Swing, season, has received worldwide attention Mostly Mozart Festival, White Light Festival, for presenting some of the broadest and the Emmy Award–winning Live From Lincoln most original performing arts programs in Center , which airs nationally on PBS, and Lincoln Center’s history. The festival has Lincoln Center Education, which is celebrat - presented 1,465 performances of opera, ing 40 years enriching the lives of students, music, dance, theater, and interdisciplinary educators, and lifelong learners. As manager forms by internationally acclaimed artists of the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA pro - from more than 50 countries. To date, the vides support and services for the Lincoln festival has commissioned 44 new works Center complex and the 11 resident organi - and offered 145 world, U.S., and New York zations: The Chamber Music Society of premieres. It places particular emphasis on Lincoln Center, Film Society of Lincoln showcasing contemporary artistic view - Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Juilliard points and multidisciplinary works that School, Lincoln Center Theater, The challenge the boundaries of traditional per - Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, formance. For more information, visit New York Philharmonic, New York Public LincolnCenterFestival.org. Library for the Performing Arts, School of American Ballet, and Lincoln Center for the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Performing Arts. Lincoln Center has become (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter a leading force in using new media and tech - of artistic programming, national leader in nology to reach and inspire a wider and arts and education and community engage - global audience. Reaching audiences where ment, and manager of the Lincoln Center they are—physically and digitally—has campus. A presenter of more than 3,000 become a cornerstone of making the free and ticketed events, performances, performing arts more accessible to New tours, and educational activities annually, Yorkers and beyond. The re-imagination of LCPA offers 16 series, festivals, and pro - David Geffen Hall will play an important part grams, including American Songbook, Avery in these efforts. For more information, visit Fisher Career Grants and Artist program, LincolnCenter.org. David Rubenstein Atrium programming, Great Performers, Lincoln Center at the Acknowledgments Movies, Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Stage Manager Sarissa Michaud Awards, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Scenery Build Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Vera Ian Grunes at BNG Industries