SEATTLE, WA—August 11, 2009—Music of Remembrance’s twelfth season includes two chamber music concerts—November 9, 2009, and May 10, 2010—at the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall. Acclaimed American composer Paul Schoenfield will attend the fall concert, which features his compelling Sparks of Glory, and will discuss his work in a pre-concert interview. The concert also coincides with the release of MOR’s latest CD on Naxos, with works by Schoenfield and Gerard Schwarz. American art song composer Lori Laitman visits in the spring for the world premiere of her new Holocaust oratorio.

 

MOR Artistic Director Mina Miller points out how music history still shows the scars of Nazi ascendancy: “Many of the composers from this season’s programs entered music history early in life, then almost vanished, obscured by the assault on lives and cultures across Europe – the Czech composers Pavel Haas and Egon Ledeč, Hungarians Sándor Vándor and László Weiner, Ukrainian Lazar Weiner, and Germany’s Zikmund Schul.” The Seattle-based chamber music organization will reintroduce these musicians’ lives and musical promise to Benaroya Hall audiences, along with works by contemporary composers.

 

MOR’s November 9, 2009 concert includes Israeli-born composer Ofer Ben-Amots’soulful Cantillations, which blends Judaica and the cantorial style of Berlin-Frankfurt chant with contemporary effects, paying tribute to a community which nearly perished in the Holocaust. Paul Schoenfield’s inspiring Sparks of Glory brings to life the Holocaust reports of Polish-Israeli journalist Moshe Prager, filled with “flying sparks and flashes of human elevation, precious gems of Jewish courage.” (Schoenfield will attend, and be available to sign copies of MOR’s new CD that includes an English version of his searing Camp Songs, and his poignant Ghetto Songs, both MOR commissions.)

 

MOR begins its season-long exploration of the string quartets of Pavel Haas, a leader in the extraordinary musical life and resistance at the Terezín concentration camp, beginning with his String Quartet No. 1, a masterpiece of counterpoint. The program also commemorates the musical legacy of two Hungarian composers murdered in the Holocaust: Sándor Vándor and László Weiner (a student of Zoltán Kodály). Vándor’s Air for cello and piano is a lovely lyric work that infuses Debussy-like impressionism with melancholy, and Weiner’s Duo for violin and viola sparkles with life. Seattle Opera Young Artist Megan Hart will perform songs by Lazar Weiner, the Ukrainian composer who pioneered the Yiddish art song.

 

MOR’s May 10, 2010 concert commemorates lives cut tragically short, focusing on the teenage boys imprisoned at Terezín. We feature the world premiere MOR’s most recent commission: the Holocaust oratorio Vedem by award-winning composer Lori Laitman.With librettist David Mason, Laitman tells the astonishing story of the boys at Terezín, illuminating their creative and spiritual resistance through the poems they published in their clandestine journal. Says Laitman, “I continue to be impressed by MOR’s vision and courage in commissioning new works, and their belief in sharing these works through live performance.” Northwest vocalists Ross Hauck and Angela Niederloh—and the incomparable Northwest Boychoir—join MOR for the world premiere of this unique musical commemoration. 

 

The spring program also includes the klezmer-like Two Chassidic Dances by Zikmund Schul, the wistful Tatinkova melodie by Egon Ledeč, and String Quartet No. 3 by Pavel Haas, a melodic work combining folk melodies and synagogue chant. Cellist Julian Schwarz returns to Seattle to perform his father Gerard Schwarz’s elegiac, heartfelt In Memoriam, written in memory of Julian’s former teacher, Seattle Symphony cellist David Tonkonogui.

Season Tickets: $72

Phone Orders: 206-365-7770
Fax Orders: 206-985-6924
Online Orders: www.musicofremembrance.org

 

Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, Seattle

7:30 p.m., Monday, November 9, 2009

6:45 p.m. Meet the Composer:Gigi Yellen interviews Paul Schoenfield

 

Cantillations (1997)

Laura DeLuca, clarinet; Mara Finkelstein, cello

 

String Quartet No. 1, Op. 3 (1920)

Mikhail Shmidt, violin; Leonid Keylin, violin; Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola; Mara Finkelstein cello

 

Walter Gray, cello; Mina Miller, piano

 

Mikhail Shmidt, violin; Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola

 

Megan Hart, soprano; Mina Miller, piano

 

Sparks of Glory (1995)

Mikhail Shmidt, violin;Laura DeLuca, clarinet; Walter Gray, cello; Mark Salman, piano; Erich Parce, narrator

Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, Seattle

8:00 p.m., Monday, May 10, 2010 

7:15 p.m. Meet the Composer: John Sharify interviews Lori Laitman and David Mason

 

In Memoriam (2005)

Julian Schwarz, cello soloist

Elisa Barston, violin; Leonid Keylin, violin; Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola; Mara Finkelstein, cello

 

Two Chassidic Dances (1941-42)

Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola; Mara Finkelstein, cello

 

Tatinkova melodie (1940)

Leonid Keylin, violin; Mina Miller, piano

 

String Quartet No. 3 (1938)

Mikhail Shmidt, violin; Elisa Barston, violin; Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola; Walter Gray, cello

VEDEM (2010) World Premiere (MOR Commission)

Libretto by David Mason

Ross Hauck, tenor; Angela Niederloh, mezzo soprano

Mikhail Shmidt, violin; Laura DeLuca clarinet; Walter Gray, cello; Mina Miller, piano

The Northwest Boychoir, Joseph Crnko conductor

About Music of Remembrance
Music of Remembrance (MOR) fills a unique spiritual and cultural role in Seattle and throughout the United States by remembering Holocaust musicians and their art through musical performances, educational programs, musical recordings and commissions of new works. Since its 1998-99 inaugural year, MOR has presented two major concerts annually at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, marking the anniversary of Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) each fall and Holocaust Remembrance Day each spring. More information available at www.musicofremembrance.org.