Remembering ‘hope in the face of despair’
Concert at Tiferet Bet honors those lost in the Holocaust; pays tribute to Anne Frank, poet Hannah Senesh
Concert planned at Tiferet Bet to honor those lost in the Holocaust with special tribute to Anne Frank.
hiding from Nazi soldiers during Germany’s occupation of the Netherlands is known globally. Senesh’s story is less famous but no less heroic. The native Hungarian immigrated to Palestine in her late teens but was imprisoned, tortured and executed following her voluntary return to Germanoccupied Hungary to help rescue fellow Jews.
The upcoming concert will dramatize Frank’s reflections from “The Diary of a Young Girl” in compositions by contemporary American composers Linda Tutas Haugen and Michael Cohen. Senesh’s poetry will be presented against musical settings by American composers Matthew Van Brink and Joan Szymko.
Described by organizers as the evening’s “centerpiece,” Haugen’s “Anne Frank: A Living Voice” will be performed by the Bel Canto Children’s Chorus, an elite choir of 11 to 18-year-olds headquartered in Red Hill and directed by Joy
Hirokawa. Haugen’s sevenmovement work is based on excerpts from Frank’s diary and, TBI spokesmen say, portrays the teenager’s psychological progression from fear and despair to strength and hope during her family’s seclusion.
TBI cantor and mezzosoprano Elizabeth Shammash, featured in the first half of the Haugen piece, calls it “simply sensational.” The May 4 program was designed by cellist Aron Zelkowicz during his years at the helm of the Pittsburgh Jewish Musical Festival. Shammash “fell in love with it as a whole” when she appeared at the 2014 festival and urged TBI members to reprise it locally.
“The pieces are all so powerful,” the former opera singer says. “The instrumentation for the Cohen and Van Brink selections with their use of the flute, harp and cello is very special…”
Shammash will also perform Szymko’s “Eli Eli,” Van Brink’s “Take the Burden Upon You” and Cohen’s “I Remember,” accompanied by harpist Gretchen Van Hoesen, flutist Alberto Almarza and Zelkowicz. The latter will join violinists Nancy Bean and Rebecca Ansel and violist Renee Warnick for Jonathan Berger’s “Eli Eli” variations for string quartet.
In prepping for the upcoming concert, Hirokawa asked her singers to read the Anne Frank diary.
“We talked a lot about her experience and related it to the experience many
children must be having today in the Middle East and other war-torn areas…as well as other parts of the world that have experience genocide, such as Bosnia and Rwanda,” she explains. “The emotional aspect is very definitely a part of our preparation. The amazing thing to all of us has been that through all her hardship, there is a sense of hope and gratitude that is quite remarkable. It is a testament to the human spirit. I think many of us feel that we have come to understand Anne Frank on a very personal and intimate level.”
Hirokawa, an assistant professor of music education at Moravian College in Bethlehem as well as a published arranger, also had her singers share their thoughts about the material
via written notes — part of her effort “to (periodically) take their emotional temperature in regards to this piece…challenging on so many levels.”
Among the Bel Canto members’ comments…
“For me, Anne Frank’s words become much more powerful every time we sing it. Each week we hear of acts of oppression in the news. And this piece really brings to light the thoughts and feelings of the oppressed from a personal standpoint. I absolutely love this piece and what it means to many people.”
A fellow performer became “more and more amazed as to how intelligent, resilient and brave Anne Frank was in a time of such hardship”:
“It seems very cliché to say — and I thought I knew all of those things already
when we decided to start this piece — but the more I think about it, the more I am baffled by how such a young girl could possibly remain so optimistic and motivated while concurrently worrying that (she) and her family could be taken and killed at any moment.
“Putting myself in her shoes is impossible. The terror she must’ve felt is nothing close to anything I have ever experienced. But what I have been able to gain from experiencing this text…is how people’s humanity remains with them no matter what. And we shouldn’t reduce those who have died in the Holocaust to representations of their experiences. They were people apart from their experiences.”
The May 4 concert is partially underwritten by
a “generous gift” from the Zeelander family in memory of the late Norbert Zeelander, a TBI congregant and Holocaust survivor. A portion of the event’s proceeds will be donated to the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation. The public is welcome. “We felt that the concert could serve as a useful learning tool to demonstrate that courage and resilience are universal traits that apply to people of all ages, religions, races and ethnic groups, even in the face of unspeakable brutality and depravity,” organizers note.
Tickets, available at www.tbibluebell.org, are $25 for adults, $18 for seniors and $12 for students. TBI is located at 1920 Skippack Pike, Blue Bell. Call 610-275-8797, ext. 123, for additional information.