Erasing Cultural Memory: Music and the impact of war

GUEST SPEAKERJulia Riegel

PhD Candidate, Indiana University Bloomington

PERFORMERSConnie Gitlin, clarinetAdam Dobres, guitar

Orontes Guitar Quartet

Wednesday, September 11, 2019 • 8 p.m.Phillip T. Young Recital Hall

MacLaurin Building, University of VictoriaFree admission

P R O G R A M

We acknowledge with respect that the land on which we gather is the traditional territory of the WSÁNEĆ (Saanich), Lkwungen (Songhees)

and Wyomilth (Esquimalt) peoples of the Coast Salish Nation.

w Welcome Dr. Suzanne Snizek, UVic School of Music

w Opening Remarks Dr. Evanthia Baboula, Acting Dean, UVic Faculty of Fine Arts Dr. Chris Goto-Jones, Dean, UVic Faculty of Humanities

w Dr. Kristin Semmens, UVic History Introduction to Klezmer artist and UVic School of Music clarinet professor Connie Gitlin, with guest guitarist Adam Dobres

w Dr. Charlotte Schallié, UVic Germanic and Slavic Studies Introduction to US Holocaust Memorial Museum guest speaker Julia Riegel (PhD candidate IU-Bloomington): Cultural Erasure, Cultural Endurance: Music in the Warsaw Ghetto

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Papirosen .................................................................................. Herman Yablokoff

Freda’s Journey ............................................................................... Adam Dobres

Ani Ma’amin ........................................................................ Azriel David Fastag

Shalom Aleichem Rav Feldman ................................................... Bela Kovács

w Dr. Alexander Dunn, UVic School of Music Introduction to the Orontes Guitar Quartet from Syria Orwa Al Shara’a, guest speaker (member of Orontes): A Journey from Conflict Four Syrian musicians describe their passage from a war-torn culture to Canada.

Short performance by Orontes:

Grisas y Soles ............................................................................... Maximilio Pujol

Orontes Guitar Quartet:Orwa Al-Shara’aNazir Salameh

Mohammed Mir MahmoudGaby Al-Botros

This program is made possible by the Campus Outreach Lecture Program of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, supported by

the Anne and Harry Chinitz Campus Outreach Lecture Fund.

Further support has been provided by the University of Victoria’s Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies, the School of Music, the History Department, the Centre for Global Studies, the Faculty

of Fine Arts and the Faculty of Humanities.

BIOGRAPHIES

Adam Dobres, guitar

Adam Dobres is a folk-oriented guitarist with a fluid talent and adaptive sensibility. Born in Canada and currently living on Pender Island in British Columbia, he has toured all over the world with acts ranging from folk ensemble The Ruth Moody Band to pop rock singer Toni Childs. In 2016, he stepped into the spotlight with his eponymous debut album, earning him a nomination for instrumental artist of the year in the West Coast Music Awards.

Dobres has a special place in his heart for beloved vocal group The Wailin’ Jennies, with whom he’s toured across America and played on acclaimed radio show the Prairie Home Companion. He also recorded on their latest album, Fifteen, which recently hit the No. 1 spot on the bluegrass charts as well as earning a Juno Nomination in 2018. Among the most exciting of Adam’s recent performances were the two tours he spent with the Ruth Moody Band opening for renowned guitarist Mark Knopfler, including 8 nights at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Adam has shared a very special collaboration spanning many years with celebrated fiddler Daniel Lapp, starting in his fiddle orchestra at the age of fifteen and nowadays joining him around the world. They’ve played together in Glasgow at the Celtic Connections Festival, at the Celtic Colors Festival in Cape Breton, and once opened together for legendary lrish folk band The Chieftains.

Connie Gitlin, clarinet

Connie Gitlin has served as principal clarinet with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra since 1984, a position which she held with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Chamber Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and Colorado Philharmonic. Ms. Gitlin has appeared numerous times as a soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and Musique Baroque Orchestra performing the works of Mozart, Rossini, Weber, Copland and Molter among others. Her solo recitals include appearances as an invited guest artist at the International Clarinet Congress both in Vancouver, BC and Cincinnati, Ohio and she performed recital works at the Einov Cultural Center in Tel Aviv in collaboration with musicians of the Israel Philharmonic. An avid performer of both chamber music and new music, Ms Gitlin has been a guest performer on numerous chamber music series both in Winnipeg and Vancouver.

Ms. Gitlin is much in demand as a teacher of clarinet, conducts masterclasses for students of all ages and has served as Instructor of Clarinet at the faculties of music at the University of Manitoba, Brandon University and St. James Music Academy as well as maintaining a private teaching studio.

Ms. Gitlin has participated in a number of recording projects with various ensembles including, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and Isabel Bayrakdarian. Most recently, Ms. Gitlin has added the rich folkloric tradition of the clarinet Klezmer music to her repertoire, including collaborations with guitarist and recording artist, Adam Dobres.

Orontes Guitar Quartet

The Orontes Guitar Quartet, from Damascus, Syria, was formed in Beirut in 2015 at the University of Notre Dame Louaize. They have since performed throughout Syria, recorded a CD, performed as soloists with the Syrian Philharmonic at the Damascus Opera House, were teaching assistants at the YES Academy Lebanon, and taught at the Remember the River guitar program for Syrian refugee children in cooperation with Jusoor in Beirut.

The Orontes Quartet are visiting artists at the UVic School of Music for the 2018-2019 season. With the help of Remember the River, whose mission is to provide support to artists in war zones, the quartet managed to escape the ravages of war in Syria to become the youngest artists to be awarded fellowships from the prestigious Artists Protection Fund. The APF is a program of the US International Institute of Education which partners with host institutions to provide fellowships in safe countries and where the artists may continue their work without fear of violence.

UVic’s guitar culture was identified as an ideal home for Orontes’ stay. As instructor at UVic for over 28 years, Dr. Alexander Dunn built a top guitar program in Canada that has garnered much international respect. Dr. Dunn serves as mentor to the group, organizing their musical activities while in Canada. The UVic School of Music has attended as host and musical base and the Victoria Guitar Society has provided daily practical and artistic support as the quartet transitioned into Canadian life.

The Orontes Quartet’s dramatic story of life in Damascus, of sustaining their art in the midst of violence, risk from extremist groups such as ISIS which target musicians, and their eventual journey to Canada is a remarkable narrative of hope and determination which celebrates the power of music to strengthen and inspire.

Julia Riegel

Julia Riegel is a PhD candidate in Modern European History at Indiana University Bloomington (USA). Riegel’s research interests include modern Polish-Jewish cultural history, the Holocaust, and music during war and genocide. Her dissertation focuses on musical life in the Warsaw Ghetto, primarily using sources written and preserved by ghetto residents to reconstruct how musical life represented, reproduced, and contributed to the ghetto’s complex and contentious social and cultural dynamics.

Her research has been supported by a Fulbright scholarship to Poland and a fellowship at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, as well as funding from Indiana University’s History Department and Borns Jewish Studies Program. Riegel has an article on the musician, ethnographer, and journalist Menachem Kipnis forthcoming in Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry 32, and has written articles for volumes III and VI of the Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945.

Victoria Guitar Society presents

Syrian EncounterAn evening with Orontes Guitar Quartet

The Orontes Quartet, hailing from Syria, are joined by BC writer Deborah Campbell, and guitar and rhythm master Celso Machado for a multimedia stage show featuring Syrian poetry, prose, solo and ensemble guitar, percussion and oud. Don’t miss the Orontes Quartet’s final concert in Victoria celebrating their remarkable journey from strife to Canada.

Friday, October 18, 2019 | 7:30 PMAlix Goolden Performance Hall (907 Pandora Ave.)

Advance tickets: General $25, Seniors $20, Students $15At the door: General $30, Seniors $25, Students $20

Tickets available online and at: Ivy’s Bookshop, Good Earth Coffeehouse (Oak Bay), Long & McQuade and Tanner’s Books (Sidney)

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