Music lovers and history lovers alike will be fascinated by musical works that were banned in Nazi Germany and other fascist regimes on June 16 when the Shir Ami Ensemble presents “Forbidden Music of the Holocaust: Presenting the Music of Composers Silenced by the Nazis.” The concerts begins at 7 p.m. and will take place at Congregation Beth Torah.
Shir Ami is an ensemble founded by Geller and dedicated to increasing Holocaust awareness. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}For this performance Shir Ami includes violinist Noah Geller, concertmaster of the Kansa City Symphony; pianist Lolita Lisovskaya-Sayevich, who also lives in the area; mezzo soprano Rachel Calloway; cellist Jason Calloway; and Michael Klotz, who will play viola.
Jerry Bernard, who is coordinating the concert along with Geller, said they hope this program will provide the Jewish and general communities of Kansas City an opportunity to understand the impact of the Holocaust from a new and unique perspective: music and the cultural arts. Tickets for the performance may be purchased online at shiramimusic.com, by calling Beth Torah at 913-498-2212, or by email at . Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 day of performance and $10 for students.
Bernard said this concert has been in the works about a year and a half. He’d been thinking about it since Geller joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2012 and he read about Shir Ami in Geller’s bio.
When Bernard saw Geller at another concert they were both attending, he introduced himself and approached the violinist with the idea of bringing Shir Ami to Kansas City.
“This is a culmination of a lot of planning and it’s a really exciting thing for both of us,” Geller said.
The first thing the pair had to do was find sponsors. Bernard said every person and agency he approached was intrigued and supportive, because this type of concert had not been presented in Kansas City before. Unlike other similar concerts, it’s not a fundraiser either.
“We’re really just trying to bring an eye-opening, mind-opening concert to the community,” Bernard said.
He also pointed out that this concert is very non-denominational — both in the Jewish sense of the word and with the broader meaning.
“Anyone who has any connection with history, with music, with Judaism is going to find something at this concert,” Bernard said.
Geller explained that he formed Shir Ami while he was a student at Julliard.
“All the members of Shir Ami are Jewish and they all have followed a path that has included taking very seriously our Jewish heritage and trying to connect that with what we do as performers,” Geller said.
Bernard pointed out that this concert is not specifically Jewish music, or even sad or somber music.
“It’s music from composers that Hitler banned. Certainly many of these composers are Jewish. The list of banned composers is comprised of people who had lifestyles or anything that didn’t fit with the Aryan concept,” he said.
“It’s a wide spectrum of significant, high-quality music that hasn’t had a chance to be heard. This is music that should be heard like other great 20th century music,” Bernard continued.
Geller agreed.
“Our performances in the past have been met with great enthusiasm and have had an uplifting quality that I didn’t expect,” he said. “When we were first doing this I expected it to be more of a meditative experience for the audience, but it really ended up that people are just overjoyed that we are able to bring this music to life. I think that’s what’s going to happen when we come to K.C.”
Geller, who is the son of a cantor, believes Shir Ami has put together a very compelling musical program. The concert will last approximately 90 minutes, with no intermission. Five or six pieces will be performed, each about 10 to 15 minutes in length. He said a number of different types of composers will be represented during the concert.
One is Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a well-known European composer who came to the United States to compose film scores. His score for the movie “Anthony Adverse” received an Oscar for the best film music of the year 1936.
“His serious music is among the best music of the 20th century and isn’t performed as widely as it should be because of his involvement with Hollywood,” Geller explained.
Another is a string trio composition by Gideon Klein, a Czech pianist and composer of classical music and organizer of cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp. He was eventually deported to Auschwitz and on to Fürstengrube subcamp, where he died.
Geller said Shir Ami will also play a composition by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, who represents another path people took during the tumultuous period in Europe. He was living in Poland and fled to the Soviet Union at the outbreak of war, although members of his family died in the Holocaust. Weinberg has a connection to this area. He studied at the Warsaw Conservatory with Dr. Irene Bettinger’s mother.
“We will also have beautiful Yiddish songs by Joel Engel, Solomon Rosowsky and Leo Zeitlin, as well as cabaret songs by Kurt Weill. It is our hope that everyone in the audience will find something in our presentation that is both new and inspiring. We are aiming to bring these little known jewels to life while enlivening our Jewish heritage,” Geller said.
Members of Shir Ami will also speak about the music, explaining such things as the context and the setting.
“This will be more than just listening to music. For some people who are interested in history it will be almost be like a history class through music. For people who are interested in music, it’s music with some additional information you normally wouldn’t get,” Bernard said.
Geller said Shir Ami is reuniting for this performance after a period of hiatus.
“Since we formed we’ve all embarked on our own individual careers and haven’t had so much time to get together. I think the last time we played together was five years ago. It will be a homecoming for us and hopefully and we will be able to re-establish a regular tradition of playing together again.”
In addition to the Tuesday night concert, Shir Ami will give an abbreviated performance for the residents and families at Village Shalom.
Individuals and foundations underwriting the concert include Shirley and Barnett C. Helzberg, Jr., G. Kenneth and Ann Baum, Irene Bettinger, and Stanley J. Bushman and Ann Canfield, Marcia Karbank and Joe Smuckler, The Sosland Foundation, Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts, Louis and Frances Swinken Supporting Foundation and Flo Harris Foundation. Community partners are the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, Rabbinical Association of Kansas City, The Kinnor Philharmonic Orchestra and Congregation Beth Torah.{/mprestriction}