Blair School of Music faculty and Nashville Symphony musicians come together for a concert of chamber music by composers who were affected profoundly by the Holocaust. This concert will feature musicians of the Nashville Symphony performing on the Violins of Hope:
Mary Kathryn Van Osdale: the Weichold Violin
Jessica Blackwell: the Barns Violin
Daniel Reinker: Viola by Carl Zach
Brad Mansell: Cello by Dr. Alfred Stelzner
Rabbi Joshua Kullock of West End Synagogue will give opening remarks.
This free event will take place in the Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall at Blair School of Music. Free parking is available in the West Garage across from Blair.
Program
Erwin Schulhoff: Concertino
Ann Richards, flute and piccolo
Daniel Reinker, viola
Glen Wanner, string bass
Dmitri Shostakovich: Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano
Jessica Blackwell, violin
Christina McGann, violin
Megan Gale, piano
Michael Alec Rose: The Entire World: Three Jewish Songs from Eastern Europe
Mary Kathryn VanOsdale, violin
Cassie Lee, clarinet
Brad Mansell, violoncello
About the Program
Erwin Schulhoff died in the Wulzberg concentration camp. His Concertino employs the unique and colorful combination of flute, viola and string bass. Dmitri Shostakovich used Jewish themes in his music to commemorate the Holocaust and to demonstrate resistance to the Soviet regime. His Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano are delightful arrangements of movements from earlier works. In The Entire World: Three Jewish Songs from Eastern Europe, Blair composer Michael Alec Rose adapts songs belonging to the Jewish culture that was exterminated during the Shoah (Holocaust). The music and lyrics of these songs are meditations on the difficulties of life and the challenges of goodness. These meanings are heightened in the context of the Shoah.