This May, Musicians of Ma’alwyck will present “Forbidden Music Regained,” a concert series featuring works by Jewish composers in the Netherlands who faced persecution during the Second World War.
Forbidden Music Regained will coincide with two memorial occasions: Dutch Remembrance Day on May 4, and Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day on May 5. The centerpiece performance will take place May 5 at Congregation Beth Emeth in Albany at 3 pm, with a 2:15 pm pre-concert talk with the performers moderated by WMHT’s Charlotte
Wilson.
The Arkell Museum in Canajoharie will host the May 4 concert, and the Strand Theatre at Hudson Falls will be the venue for the May 6 performance, both scheduled for 7 pm.
The featured composers, including Dick Kattenburg, Hans Krieg, Rosy Wertheim, Ignace Lilien, Henriëtte Bosmans, Hans Lachman, and Paul Hermann, lived and worked in the Netherlands during the early 20th century.
Some of these composers survived the war, but many were lost. Even for those who survived, the effects of their experience took a profound toll, and the Nazis’ dedication to eradicating Jewish culture and thought effectively helped to ensure these oeuvres were never to be heard again.
This concert series is made possible with support from the Dutch Consulate in the United States, JM McDonald Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, and from the Leo Smit Foundation, a Netherlands-based knowledge center open to anyone who wishes to discover music and composers who faced persecution during the Second World War, either for their Jewish heritage or resistance activism.
Musicians of Ma’alwyck director and violinist Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz will be joined by Max Caplan, piano, and André O’Neill, cello (May 5 only). Visiting soprano Elizaveta Agrafenina will travel from Europe to lend her rich voice to the series.
In Agrafenina’s vocal work, she has championed numerous projects on Jewish cultural heritage and Holocaust remembrance, and will continue this important work here in the US.
Tickets are $40 general admission, and $10 for students for the Sunday, May 5th program at Congregation Beth Emeth, 100 Academy Road in Albany. Members of Congregation Beth Emeth are eligible for a discounted ticket at $30.
To purchase tickets, visit https://musiciansofmaalwyck.org/home
This event is underwritten in part by funding from Dutch Culture USA, JM McDonald Foundation, and New York State Council on the Arts. This program is supported as part of Dutch Culture USA of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York.
About The Musicians of Ma’alwyck
Musicians of Ma’alwyck are a flexible-sized classical chamber music ensemble. The mission of Musicians of Ma’alwyck is to share history through music. Founded in 1999 by violinist and director Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, the purpose of Musicians of Ma’alwyck is to cultivate and promote an understanding and appreciation for American, particularly New York State, life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries through the performance of chamber ensemble music at historic sites and concert venues in collaboration with other artistic organizations.
Based in the Capital Region but performing throughout New York State, the ensemble serves a diverse audience of music lovers, history enthusiasts, and supporters of the arts. Core musicians include Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, director and violin; Norman Thibodeau, flute; Sten Isachsen, guitar; and André Laurent O’Neil, cello. The group frequently works with guest artists of national stature.
Musicians of Ma’alwyck produce several concerts and online programs each year, combining archival research, historic sites in New York State, and classical music. They have been in residence at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany for over twenty years, and also hold a residency at SUNY Schenectady. The ensemble released its first commercial CD in 2016, Music in the Schuyler Mansion, which the Times Union called “elegant and charming,” and their second in 2021, Hyde Hall & the Silver Goddess: Operatic Brilliance of Auber, Bellini, Meyerbeer, and Rossini from the Drawing Room.
Visit their website for more information.
Photo provided.
