Programme - Days of
Dutch Culture
Stichting
Joodse Muziek Mikhail Gnesin project
Dates:
15-17 September
Location:
Composers' House, and Khessed Avraham, BolsjoiSampsonievski, Prospect 45
Information:
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15 September, Composers' House: The Mikhail Gnesin Project: concert with music by the Jewish Russian composer Mikhail F. Gnesin (1883-1957), performed by an international ensemble of six musicians: four musicians from Amsterdam (Sovali: soprano, Michel Marang: clarinet, Alexander Oratovski: violoncello and Michael Vatcher: percussion) will be joined by two musicians from St. Petersburg (Grigory Sedukh: violin, piccolo violin and Galina Fialko: piano).
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17 september, Khessed Avraham, BolsjoiSampsonievski, Prospect 45: lecture / concert by professor Avraham Yusfin.
Mikhail Fabianovitch Gnesin was one of the founders of the St. Petersburg 'Society for Jewish folk music' (1908), a group of young Jewish composers in search of their roots, who set themselved the goal of creating Jewish classical music and were stimulated by N. Rimksy-Korsakov. Their adaptations of Jewish folk melodies were much loved, until they became 'black listed' when Stalin took over power. When Dutch singer Sofie van Lier (Sovali) discovered the group of composers in 2001, she began collecting their music with the help of fellow musicians. In Mikhail Gnesin she discovered an interesting, highly gifted and versatile composer, who's work is not as often played as it should be because of the political situation in the former Soviet Union. In the beginning of the 20th century, Gnesin played an important role in Russian music culture. As a music theoretician / theorist and teacher of musical composition, he had great influence. His name lives on in the famous conservatory in Moscow that was founded by his sisters and was named after him. But unfortunately, the Jewish composer Gnesin is forgotten. Gnesin composed more than fifty songs and lieder, numerous works for chamber music, orchestra and choirs, and an opera poem Abraham's youth. His compositions, that were mainly inspired by Jewish themes, are characterised by their melodic intensity, liveliness and artistic originality. Sadly, it was the Jewish origin of his music that turned out to be the main obstacle for world-wide recognition of contemporaries. Now that many of his works have been retrieved from libraries and private collections, Gnesin's music can finally be performed again. The St. Petersburg partner in this project will be violinist Grigory Sedukh.
