Thursday 31 October 2024
Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall
Benjamin Northey, MSO Chorus, Young Voices of Melbourne
Leah Pisar-Haas (USA). Emily Sun. Jessica Aszodi.
World premieres by Elena Kats-Chernin and William Barton
The MSO and Australian War Memorial present the commemorative concert Kaddish: A Holocaust Memorial on Thursday 31 October. This world premiere performance marks 80 years since the discovery and liberation of the first execution camps, and the deaths of the Jewish composers, musicians and artists from Theresienstadt.
Curated by the Australian War Memorial’s first musical Artist in Residence, Christopher Latham OAM, the concert is designed to promote healing and deeper understanding of historical trauma resulting from the Holocaust. It is the latest in a broader Australian War Memorial series that has included the Diggers' Requiem (2018), Vietnam Requiem (2021) and the Prisoners of War Requiem (2022).
The Assistant Director National Collection, Major General (Retired) Brian Dawson AM, CSC, Australian War Memorial says the concert offers a unique occasion to remember these cataclysmic events from 80 years ago. “Kaddish: The Holocaust Memorial has been created as a cultural recovery project and, along with other past Requiems, as a demonstration of the cultural cost of war.”
Announced in July 2023 as part of the MSO’s 2024 season, this concert aims to facilitate a therapeutic journey and promote post-traumatic growth for the many who have been impacted by the Holocaust. More than 12 million people died during the Holocaust including six million Jews as well as Russians, Poles and Slavs, Romani People, homosexuals, people with disability, political opponents (including communists and socialists), dissidents and anti-socials.
The concert opens with the MSO, conducted by Benjamin Northey, alongside the MSO Chorus and Young Voices of Melbourne, performing Leonard Bernstein’s choral Symphony No.3 Kaddish (1963) dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy. Leah Pisar-Haas narrates using text written by her late father Samuel Pisar – one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz.
The evening also includes the world premieres of newly commissioned works by Elena Kats-Chernin and William Barton, Kristallnacht - the Night of Broken Glass and William Cooper March. Kats-Chernin explains the genesis of her and Barton’s new work. “On 6 December 1938, Yorta Yorta man William Cooper and an Australian Aborigines’ League delegation delivered a petition to the German Consulate in Melbourne condemning the cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazis - possibly the only private protest against Kristallnacht. The Night of Broken Glass and William Cooper March, which features William playing the yidaki, honours Cooper’s courage and compassion.”
The program brings light to extraordinary cultural treasures as ‘almost lost’ masterworks are revealed from Schulhoff, Ullmann, Krása, Klein, Brudno who were murdered in the camps; and survivors Szpilman, Bischofswerder, Dreyfus and Friedman, featuring acclaimed soloists Emily Sun (violin), Jessica Aszodi (soprano), Alice Giles (harp) and Edward Neeman (piano).
Major General Brian Dawson will host a Panel Discussion on Tuesday 29 October, ahead of an Open Rehearsal of Bernstein's Kaddish Symphony. The panel comprises of the key creatives for the project, Dr Leah Pisar-Haas, William Barton, Elena Kats-Chernin AO, Dr Joseph Toltz and Chris Latham OAM with Sir Jonathan Mills AC. The panellists will provide fascinating insights into the creation of this performance and discuss the important role that culture and the arts have in remembrance, memory and healing.
