Music of Remembrance is a non-profit classical chamber music organization based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

whose purpose is to find and perform music composed by victims of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, irrespective of their background, as well as to perform related newly commissioned works.

History

Music of Remembrance was founded 1998 in Seattle by Mina Miller, who is also president and artistic director, to find and perform music composed by victims of the Holocaust, irrespective of their background, as well as to perform related newly commissioned works. The company presents two concerts each year in Benaroya Hall: one in spring to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and the other in fall for the anniversary of . They also give a free ''Sparks of Glory'' series of concerts with associated commentary at venues including the

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...

and run an educational outreach program throughout Washington State. In 2005, they established the David Tonkonogui Memorial Award for young musicians. Since 2015, Music of Remembrance present a free community-wide concert at Benaroya Hall every January to mark

International Holocaust Remembrance Day The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of on ...

and the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Also since 2015, they have brought their programs to the Bay Area with an annual major concert in San Francisco. The 2020–2021 season was disrupted by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, and replaced by a series of four online concerts. Most of the performing instrumental artists are drawn from the Seattle Symphony. Seattle Symphony violinist Mikhail Shmidt, violist Susan Gulkis Assadi, and clarinetist Laura DeLuca have performed with Music of Remembrance since its founding. Flutist Zart Dambourian-Eby, violinist Natasha Bazhanov, cellist Walter Gray, pianist Jessica Choe, and double bassist Jonathan Green have made frequent appearances.

Repertoire

Music of Remembrance's repertoire is made up of historic pieces by composers who perished in or survived the Holocaust and contemporary commissions that share lessons of the Holocaust. The company's first recording, ''Art from Ashes – volume 1'' (2002), included: ''Serenata'', written in Terezín concentration camp in 1942, the only surviving piece by Robert Dauber who died in Dachau in 1945; ''Five Pieces for String Quartet'' (1924) by

Erwin Schulhoff Erwin Schulhoff ( cs, Ervín Šulhov; 8 June 189418 August 1942) was an Austro-Czech composer and pianist. He was one of the figures in the generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the ...

, who died in Wülzburg in 1942, and Herman Berlinski's ''Flute Sonata'', lost when he left Paris and reconstructed in the USA in 1942. Music specially commissioned by the company includes ''Camp Songs'' (2002) by

Paul Schoenfield Paul Schoenfield, also spelled Paul Schoenfeld, is a classical composer. He is known for combining popular, folk, and classical music forms. Schoenfield was born in 1947 in Detroit, Michigan. He began to take piano lessons at the age of six, ...

, five songs set to poems by Aleksander Kulisiewicz who was interned in

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoner ...

. This piece was one of three finalists for the

Pulitzer Prize for Music The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted ...

in 2003 and was also on their first recording. Music of Remembrance also commissioned three pieces by Jake Heggie: ''For a Look or A Touch'' (2007, for baritone and actor), about the persecution of gay men during the Holocaust; ''Another Sunrise'' (2012, soprano), based on the life and work of Polish resistance member and Auschwitz survivor and ''Farewell, Auschwitz'' (2013, soprano, mezzo-soprano, baritone), based on lyrics by Żywulska translated by Gene Scheer. Heggie incorporated these pieces into an opera in three parts, ''Out of Darkness'' (2013) with libretto by Scheer, of which Music of Remembrance presented the world première May 2016 in Seattle, with further performances planned for San Francisco. The company's presentations also include more established music, such as '' Different Trains'' (1988) by Steve Reich, which compares his experiences of travelling by train in America with the very different experiences of being transported to a concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Europe, and ''

Verklärte Nacht ''Verklärte Nacht'' (''Transfigured Night''), Op. 4, is a string sextet in one movement composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1899. Composed in just three weeks, it is considered his earliest important work. It was inspired by Richard Dehmel's p ...

'' (1899) by

Arnold Schönberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

, who recognised the Nazi danger early and emigrated to America in 1934. This was the music for the world première of Donald Byrd's dances ''Transfigured Night'' performed by Spectrum Dance Theatre.

Discography

Music of Remembrance's first CD was on the Innova label. Since then, they have recorded several CDs for

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

Commissions

Music of Remembrance commissions Holocaust-inspired works by living composers to build a bridge between Holocaust musicians and a new generation of artists and audiences. These new works are intended to embrace the Holocaust’s legacy of spiritual resistance through music, and of communicating this legacy to audiences in today’s world.

Young Artist Award

In 2005, Music of Remembrance established the David Tonkonogui Memorial Award in memory of cellist David Tonkonogui (1958–2003). This is open to young musicians from the Seattle area who wish to perform music with a connection to the Holocaust. As well as a monetary award for continuing musical study, recipients are invited to perform at a Music of Remembrance concert.

References

Citations: * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{authority control 1998 establishments in Washington (state) Performing groups established in 1998 Holocaust commemoration American orchestras Musical groups established in 1998 Musical groups from Seattle