Pittsburgh Symphony stirs hearts with ‘Violins of Hope’ concert
The Pittsburgh Symphony’s bass section has its own instruments, of course. Nevertheless, Patrick Crossley jumped into his car on Tuesday and drove 12 hours from his home in Nashville to Heinz Hall to deliver a double bass for its Wednesday performance.
This wasn’t a typical double — it was dark-hued, rich in timbre and once owned by a Jewish man, an Oskar Schindler’s list survivor, who willedit to Crossley when he died.
At the concert, the symphony’s principal bassist, Nicholas Myers, performed with the instrument, enveloping listeners with a vibrating, historical resonance.
The concert was a sold-out “PSO360” performance, which means that instead of sitting in Heinz Hall’s regular seats, about 250 listeners sat right up on stage with members of the orchestra as they performed chamber music.
The program consisted of rarely heard music by composers from the first half of the 20th century
ranging from Pavel Haas and Ernst Toch to Joseph Achron and Franz Schreker, several of whom faced persecution, exile or death at the hands of the Nazis.
Crossley’s bass was not the only historic instrument onstage, as Wednesday also marked the first of two Pittsburgh Symphony performances using the famous “Violins of Hope,” a collection of restored violins, violas and cellos played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust.
For the next month, Violins of Hope Greater Pittsburgh will partner with more than 55 organizations, including the ballet, opera, regional orchestras, Jewish Community Center, local universities and more to host performances, lectures and reflections on the history of the Holocaust and its contemporary resonances.
“The hope is that people think more about each other, that they stop and really think for just a moment,” said Sandy Rosen, the organization’s chair.
On Wednesday, Pittsburgh Symphony concertmaster David McCarroll performed klezmertinged solos with pianist Rodrigo Ojeda using a violin with an inlaid Star of David, originally made for a klezmer performer.
Violinist Marta Krechkovsky performed on an instrument believed to have been played in a ghetto or hard labor camp. Kelsey Blumenthal played “The Moshe
Violin,” made by German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte around 1800.
Dennis O’Boyle played the Max Beker violin, once owned by a man drafted into the Polish army in 1939 who ended up as a POW in Stalag VIII-A. Fellow inmates gathered money to purchase a violin for Beker, who became a member of the camp orchestra.
The concert was poignant and moving. Prokofiev’s “Overture on Hebrew Themes” for clarinet, string quartet and piano proved a highlight and audience hit, while Schreker’s “Intermezzo” for strings seemed to sing and sway, alternating tinges of lamentation and hope.
The full “Violins of Hope” collection is in Tel Aviv, Israel, with founder Amnon Weinstein. In Pittsburgh, the exhibit at Carnegie Mellon University’s Posner Center is comprised of 21 instruments and their provenances. It will be on display until Nov. 21.
“Nobody said ‘no’ to us,” said
Rosen, who added she was thrilled with the community’s response to the instruments’ arrival in the city.
In a month, the Pittsburgh Symphony will perform a concert with famous violinist Joshua Bell on Nov. 25 to cap off the “Violins of Hope” series.
The full list of community events is at violinsofhopepittsburgh.com. A few of the performance collaborations are listed below.
Oct. 19: Wheeling Symphony Orchestra at the Capitol Theatre in Wheeling, W.Va.
Oct. 22: The Jewish Community Center’s American Jewish Museum Presents “Violins And Hope – From The Holocaust To Symphony Hall: Photographs By Daniel Levin” at the American JewishMuseum
Oct. 27-29: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre presents “Light in the Dark” at the Byham Theatre, Downtown
Oct. 28-Nov. 26: Quantum Theatre presents the “Flying Lovers of Vitebsk” at RodefShalom in Shadyside
Nov. 4: Pittsburgh Opera presents a free and informal Song Shop at the opera headquarters in the Strip District
Nov. 5: Pittsburgh Concert Chorale “Festival of Choirs” at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland
Nov. 9: “A Conversation
with Holocaust Survivor Albert Farhy” at Chatham University
Nov. 12: Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild presents klezmer violinist Steven
Greenman, exploring similarities between klezmer and jazz at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild
Nov. 16: The Clarion Quartet (a string quartet of
Pittsburgh Symphony players) performs at Carnegie Mellon School of Music
Nov. 25: The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs with violinist Joshua Bell in Heinz Hall
Full details for these events are at violinsofhopepittsburgh.com.
Jeremy Reynolds: jreynolds@post-gazette.com. His work at the Post-Gazette is supported in part by a grant from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Getty Foundation and Rubin Institute.