2020 - 2021 Concert Season

Our fourth and final virtual concert of this unique season shines a light on the Armenian genocide with Return to Amasia by American composer Eric Hachikian. During and after World War I, about one and a half million ethnic Armenians in Turkey and adjacent regions were systematically murdered or expelled by the Ottoman authorities. Hachikian is the grandson of survivors from the genocide and Return to Amasia is an intimate musical and visual account of his own journey to that city in in search of his roots. Parts of the music are adapted from Hachikian’s score for Voyage to Amasia, the feature-length documentary film that he produced. You’ll be able to view the complete film when we screen it online around the time of this concert.

Gifted Russian-born composer Polina Nazaykinskaya’s Haim (Hebrew for “life”) is a musical tribute to David Arben, a survivor of seven concentration camps as a young boy who was saved by his violin when he was pulled from a crowd of 105 prisoners waiting to be shot or buried alive by the SS. After the war he came to America, penniless and barely speaking a word of English. Eventually he joined the Philadelphia Orchestra for 34 years, more than a dozen as Associate Concertmaster. In Arben’s words, “Music is Life. Music is Hope. Music is Peace.”

On May 24, 2021 Music of Remembrance returns to the Bay Area after a year’s hiatus due to the pandemic. Their performance at the newly-renovated Presidio Theatre features a rare double bill of works by the incomparable team of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. Heggie and Scheer are among the most prominent figures in new opera today. Their works like Moby-Dick and It’s a Wonderful Life have been presented by San Francisco Opera and by major opera houses around the world. Israel Opera performed Heggie’s Dead Man Walking in December 2019, and the work’s Metropolitan Opera’s 2021 production will be showcased worldwide in an HD broadcast.

Music of Remembrance returns to the concert hall after a year’s hiatus due to the pandemic. Our performance features a rare double bill of works by the incomparable team of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. Heggie and Scheer are among the most prominent figures in new opera today. Their works like Moby-Dick and It’s a Wonderful Life have been presented by San Francisco Opera and by major opera houses around the world. Israel Opera performed Heggie’s Dead Man Walking in December 2019, and the work’s Metropolitan Opera’s 2021 production will be showcased worldwide in an HD broadcast.