Playing heart strings
Violins from the Holocaust part of Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra’s season finale
Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra closes its 45th anniversary season with violins from the Holocaust. May 13’s Dvořák & Beach at Trinity Christian College’s Ozinga Chapel in Palos Heights also features the world premiere of Jonathan Cziner’s strings-only composition “Nifrach,” which is dedicated to his grandparents Manfred and Linda Blum, the former who lost many family members in the Holocaust.
“They were married for over 60 years. He passed away last summer,” said Cziner, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2022-23 composer-in-residence.
“It’s extraordinarily meaningful. I’m trying to find words that express the profoundness of having these instruments used for this performance and what it would have meant to him.
“My hope is that even though he can’t hear it, it provides comfort to not only my family but to people in general. Many American Jews were forced to flee their homes and create a new life here in the United States. Many other people have had that (kind of ) experience in their own way.”
Cziner said his grandfather was born in Germany and left most of his extended family, whom he never heard from again, to come to the United States when he was a young boy.
“The title ‘Nifrach’ means
‘We Will Blossom’ so the idea of being uprooted and flourishing in a new place. My grandfather’s story is emblematic of that but it’s emblematic of the American Jewish experience for a lot of people,” said Cziner, of Dallas.
“It starts out extraordinarily delicate and moves from single
players in each of the string sections and, as the title refers to, becomes more lush over time. These delicate textures evolve into more melodic ideas and harmonic ideas.
“It’s a piece that I hope emotionally inspires hope and musically evokes the idea of growing, building and flourishing.”
Hosted by JCC Chicago, Violins of Hope provides several violins owned and played by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust for Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra’s program,
which also
features Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 and Amy Beach’s Symphony in E minor, Op. 32.
“I’m grateful to be a small part of this concert. It’s really important to remind people of what happened,” said Cziner, who won Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual Classical Evolve composition competition in 2021.
“These instruments, the sounds they can make and the emotions they can conjure in the hands of brilliant musicians can remind us of the tragedy and also the hope of the future.”
Cziner’s future includes his guest conducting debut with Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra May 14 when he leads his piece “Ruach (and other delights),” which New York Youth Symphony world premiered March 13, 2022, his grandfather’s 90th birthday, at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium.
Although Cziner is completing his composer-in-residence run, he is working on a concerto to world premiere Oct. 14 during Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra’s 202324 season-opening concert, Music From the Americas, which features violinist Stella Chen whom he met at New York’s The Juilliard School.
“It’s a violin and orchestra piece and I’m writing the piece for Stella Chen,” he said.
“She won the 2019 Queen Elisabeth Competition while we were doing degrees together so she’s a good friend and an exceptionally talented violinist.”