International Holocaust Remembrance Day Concert

To the International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre, Moscow
January, 27, 2023

Dmitri Shostakovich (USSR)
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor Op. 67
(1943-1944), Largo 5’
Shostakovich dedicated the Trio to the memory of his close friend Ivan Sollertinsky. It is in this work the Jewish theme is so clearly heard for the first time. Shostakovich's trio, that was written during the war, was a kind of requiem for all its victims.
Zikmund Schul (Germany)
Zwei Chassidische Tanze Op. 15 (1942) 4’
In 1933, the 16-year-old violinist Zikmund Schul left Germany and settled in Prague. Another travel, which became the last for Schul, happened on November 11, 1941. Theresienstadt became the new address. Here the premieres of his main works took place. Here he died in 1944.
Gideon Klein (Czechia)
Ukolebavka (1943) 4'
The youngest of the "Theresienstadt" composers, Klein was deported to the ghetto at the age of 21, and died at 25. However, he entered the history of music with his compositions written in Theresienstadt, which include a sonata and a trio.
Viktor Ullmann (Austria)
Piano Sonata №7 (1944),
Adagio, ma con moto 5’
For 2 years in Theresienstadt, where Ulmann ended up with many of his colleagues, he wrote three piano sonatas, a quartet, orchestral works and even an opera. The 7th - the last - sonata is dedicated to his children. Viktor Ullman died in the Auschwitz gas chamber.
Hans Neumeyer (Germany)
Andante Moderato from DBSG Duo
for violin and viola (1940) 5’
Blind from birth, the German composer did not escape the common fate - he was deported to Theresienstadt, where he ended his days. His wife had been deported earlier and killed in one of the Polish camps, only the children survived, sent by Kindertransport to England.
Leo Smit (The Netherlands)
Divertimento (1942) 14’
The composer was born in Amsterdam. Here he studied at the conservatory, got married here, from here he was deported to Sobibor in April 1943, where he died three days after his arrival. His Divertimento, written already in the occupation, is full of life - like the famous Anne Frank's Diary.
Mieczyslaw Weinberg (Poland-USSR)
Sonata for clarinet and piano Op. 28 (1945), Allegro 6’
In 1939, the 20-year-old musician fled from Warsaw to the USSR, his entire family perished in the fires of the Holocaust. Son-in-law of Solomon Mikhoels, who was murdered on Stalin's order, Weinberg was also persecuted in the USSR - the composer was imprisoned on the so-called "Doctor's plot".
From "The Pianist" by Roman Polanski
Chopin Nocturne C sharp minor 4’
The hero of Roman Polanski's film "The Pianist" is the Polish pianist and composer Wladyslaw Szpilman. He really fled from the Warsaw ghetto and hid in burned Warsaw for almost two years. After the war, Shpilman continued to perform as a pianist.

Program

Dmitri Shostakovich: The Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor Op. 67 (1943-1944), Largo 5’ - Maria Krestinskaya, Andrey Berezin, Evgeny Starodubtsev

Zikmund Schul: Zwei Chassidische Tanze Op. 15 (1942) 4’ - Maria Krestinskaya, Andrey Berezin

Gideon Klein: Ukolebavka (1943) 4’ - Andrey Zaitsev, Anton Prischepa

Viktor Ullmann: Piano Sonata 7 (1944), Adagio, ma con moto 5’ - Anton Prischepa

Hans Neumeyer: Andante Moderato from DBSG Duo for violin and viola (1940) 5’ - Maria Krestinskaya, Andrey Berezin

Leo Smit: Divertimento (1942) 14’ - PetroDuo (Anastassia Rogaleva and Dmitry Petrov)

Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Sonata for clarinet and piano Op. 28 (1945), Allegro 6’ - Anton Prischepa, Evgeny Srarodubtsev

From "The Pianist": Chopin Nocturne C sharp minor 4’ - Evgeny Starodubtsev

Performers

Anton Prischepa
Clarinet and piano
Anton graduated from the Russian Gnessin Academy of Music in 2006 having two specialities – clarinet and composition. As a performer on piano and clarinet he works mostly in the aspect of chamber music. He is a constant member of a number of ensembles stylistically fluctuating from classic to jazz and rock music. He is an author of many compositions in different styles. He tours within Russia and abroad on a regular basis.
In 2012 he became a Gran-Prix winner of the Vitti Chamber Music Competition in Castellano-Grotte, Italy. Since 2005 Anton has been teaching in Moscow Gnessin School of Music. He gives master-classes on clarinet, composition, chamber ensemble.
PetRo Duo
Anastassia Rogaleva and Dmitry Petrov
PetRo Duo is the winner of the GRAND Prix Prize and audience award of the 20th International piano Duo competition Tokyo, Japan, STEINWAY & SONS prize "For the development of a culture of STEINWAY", the Winner (I prize) of all-Russian competition of piano duets in the name of A. G. Bahcheev. The Duo was awarded a special prize from the Accademia Pianistica Siciliana"For the best performance of works by foreign composer" and the award of the Radio of Russia "For loyalty to the traditions of piano-duet music-making".
Member of the All Russian association "Piano duets" (Russia, Moscow).
Julia Broido
Musicologist and producer
Julia graduated from St Petersburg State Conservatory as a musicologist with a MA Thesis on 'Jewish Theme in Music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg and his opera Mazel Tov (after Sholem Aleichem)'. Then she studied historically informed performance in Felix Mendelssohn Musikhochschule (Germany) and Arts Management in Sibelius Academy (Finland). For more than 20 years she is acting as a music critic and artistic adviser for different festivals, in 2014-2022 she was a Director of the Production Department at the Mariinsky theatre. For Jewish museum Julia made several concert projects: Weinberg 100 anniversary concert (2019), Music from the Concentration Camp (2020), Music in Exile (2021).

Maria Krestinskaya
Violin
Maria began studying the violin in Tbilisi. Graduated from the St Petersburg Conservatoire. Became a grant recipient of the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation. She engaged in authentic performance since 1998, working with the St Petersburg early music ensemble Musica Petropolitana. Took master-classes from Zakhar Bron, Boris Kuschnir, Marie Leonhardt, Andrew Manze, Monica Huggett, Peter van Heyghen and Andrew Lawrence-King.
Prize-winner at the Jascha Heifetz International Violin Competition in Vilnius and the Alexander Glazunov International Competition in Paris. Performs with Dmitry Sinkovsky's ensemble La Voce Strumentale (Moscow) and directs the ensemble Barocco Concertato which she founded. Maria is teaching at the St Petersburg Conservatory.
Andrey Berezin
Cello
Cellist Andrei Berezin is a laureate of several international competitions. In addition to the cello, he plays the viola da gamba and double bass (primarily as part of the StradiValenki crossover quartet). Composer, arranger and performer, in the past Berezin collaborated with the Moscow Virtuosi and Kremlin orchestras and was a member of the State Glinka Quartet. As a composer he wrote for the Gorky MkhAT - Moscow Art Theatre and Tanya Strelbitskaya's Workshop.
Evgeny Starodubtsev
Piano
Evgeny was accepted into the Central Musical School of Moscow at 10. After graduating in 1999 as a pianist and a composer, he became a student at the Moscow Conservatory as a composer and then as a pianist. Prizewinner of more than 15 international competitions, Evgeny succesfully performs recitals and concert tours in Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, Canada and others. One of his most important performances was in September 2006, in Amsterdam Concertgebouw Hall at the Shostakovich Music festival. He performed Mozart double piano concerto in Barcelona Palau de lá Musica in 2011. The following year, he made his debut in Konzerthaus, Berlin where he among other compositions performed II book of Ligeti etudes.