Singing Through the Darkness

So my third Holocaust Remembrance concert was Singing Through the Darkness which played at the Jane Mallett Theatre on Wednesday night.  Unlike the previous two concerts which focussed largely on music in the classical tradition with a bit of folk thrown in this time it was more jazz/musical theatre.

The programme was a very varied mix of music and poetry composed in camps and ghettoes, folk songs remembered from a fractured past, partisan songs and even a bit of Kurt Weill.;  The arrangements were for various combinations of Aviva Chernick, Lenka Lichtenberg, Theresa Tova and Fern Lindzon on vocals with Fern on the piano (and melodica) and, on occasion, Lenka on guitar.  There was even a cameo by Judith Lander.  Ori Dagan mceed. Continue reading

Abraham, an oratorio

I really wanted to like David Warrack’s new piece Abraham that premiered last night at the Metropolitan United Church.  It’s described as an oratorio and tells the story of the patriarch Abraham and uses that as a jumping off point for arguing for the breaking down of barriers between Jews, Christians and Muslims based on their shared heritage(*).  Given recent events in Canada and elsewhere that’s obviously a worthy goal and the whole thing was in aid of the Metropolitan United Church Syrian Refugee Fund; reason enough, in itself, to go.

Continue reading