New West Symphony: "Duets of Remembrance"

Duets of Remembrance: Brundibár, Mendelssohn & Violins of Hope
New West Symphony remembers the Holocaust with two concerts that honor the 75th anniversary of the liberation of concentration camps. The first program, Dreams, features Brundibár (Czech for “bumblebee”), which was performed by kids at the Jewish Orphanage in Prague before Nazis began transporting Czech Jews to Terezin in 1942. A score of the opera was smuggled into the camp in 1943, where Hans Krása orchestrated it for the musicians in the camp. Seeing the propaganda potential, the Nazi regime sponsored a documentary featuring productions of the opera as they performed for the Red Cross International inspectors in September 1944. Two weeks later artists in the production were transported to Auschwitz, but the beautiful memory of the production lives on in performances today. The second piece is by the often-overlooked child prodigy, Felix Mendelssohn, who was 16 years old when he wrote the overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream to accompany a reading of the Shakespeare comedy in the Mendelssohn family home. 17 years later, the king of Prussia asked Mendelssohn to write music for a production of the entire play, and that score has echoed throughout history, including the ubiquitous “Wedding March.” The second concert spotlights Violins of Hope, a project by Israeli Amnon Weinstein who lovingly and painstakingly restored instruments owned by Holocaust victims, adding ornate decorations and stars of David. These instruments enjoy renewed life on the stage as part of Violins of Hope, in a piece written just for them: Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 4 “Heichalos.” Pianist Olga Stern also performs.