March 5, 2020 • 6pm Galleries Open • 7pm Concert

present

Three

World Premiere Commissions

Sponsored by Jane B. Wagner and Family

Jill Roth and Benjamin LipsonKelli Cohen Fein and Martin Fein

In honor of all those who contribute to preserving

the memories, documenting the life stories,

playing the music, and celebrating the precious human spirit

of those who perished in the Holocaust and

of those who survived it.

-- JANE WAGNER

Mario Castelnuovo-TedescoConcerto de Camera: Aria

--- 6 minutes ---

Shema yisroel (Hear Israel) • Adonai Eloheinu (The Lord is our G-d)Adonai echad (The Lord is One)-- RECITED BY JANE WAGNER

Bruce Adolphe We Were the Music

ROCO COMMISSIONED WORLD PREMIERE--- 6 minutes ---

Alexander ZemlinskyClarinet Trio in D minor, op. 3

--- 10 minutes ---

Isabelle GanzS’brent

ROCO COMMISSIONED WORLD PREMIERE (FIFTEEN PROJECT)--- 6 minutes ---

Paul Hindemith Sonata for Oboe and Piano

II. Sehr langsam - Lebhaft--- 8 minutes ---

---- Q&A with composer Bruce Adolphe ----

Frédéric ChopinWaltz in B minor, op. 69, No. 2

---4 minutes ---

Bruce AdolpheMusic is a Dream

ROCO COMMISSIONED WORLD PREMIERE---12 minutes ---

Alecia Lawyer, oboe & English hornRichard Belcher, cello

Mei Rui, piano

March 5, 2020

ROCO and Holocaust Museum Houston present

Program Notes Alice Herz became a concert pianist, but her career was cut short by the Nazis, who did not allow Jews to perform or teach non-Jews. She had met her husband to be, Leopold Sommer, also a musician, in 1931 and married him two weeks later. In 1943, the couple and their son, Raphael, were sent from Prague to a camp in the Czech city of Terezín (Theresienstadt in German). Set up for Nazi propaganda, Theresienstadt allowed its inmates to stage concerts in which she frequently starred. She never saw her husband again after he was moved to Auschwitz in 1944, and many in her extended family and most of the friends she had grown up with were also murdered by Nazis in the Holocaust. Herz-Sommer spent two years in the Theresienstadt camp, where nearly 35,000 prisoners perished. Alice Herz-Sommer commented of her performances in Theresienstadt: “We had to play because the Red Cross came three times a year. The Germans wanted to show its representatives that the situation of the Jews in Theresienstadt was good. Whenever I knew that I had a concert, I was happy. Music is magic. We performed in the council hall before an audience of 150 old, hopeless, sick and hungry people. They lived for the music. It was like food to them. If they hadn’t come [to hear us], they would have died long before. As we would have.” Alice Herz-Sommer died in London in 2006 at the age of 110. There is a video on YouTube of Alice Herz-Sommer playing Chopin’s Waltz in c-sharp minor, Opus 64, No. 2. Inspired by this, I included some quotes of the waltz in Music is a Dream.

S’brent, briderlekh, s’brent!Oy, undzer orem shtetl nebekh brent!Beyze vintn mit yirgozn, raysn, brekhn un tseblozen,Shtarker nokh di vilde flamen,Alts arum shoyn brent!Un ir shteyt un kukt azoy zikh mit farleygte hent.Un ir shteyt un kukt azoy zikh vi undzer shtetl brent!

It’s burning, brothers, it’s burning!Our poor little town, a pity, it’s burning!Furious winds blow, breaking, burning and scattering,Savage winds are blowing stronger,Everything around is burning!And you stand around and look, with folded arms,And you stand around and look while our town burns!

We Were the Music by Bruce AdolpheWORLD PREMIERE

We Were the Music is a work for solo cello dedicated to Holocaust survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a cellist who was arrested and deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz at the age 18, where she became a member of the Women’s Orchestra led by Alma Rosé. In October 1944, when the concentration camp was evacuated, she was sent to Bergen-Belsen, which was liberated by British troops in April 1945. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch eventually made her way to England, where she was a founder of the English Chamber Orchestra. In 1996, she published her memoir Inherit the Truth, 1939-1945. In an interview, Lasker-Wallfisch described what it was like to be a musician at Auschwitz, how the music saved them, with the words, “We were the music.” In We Were the Music, I included a musical reference to the shape and rhythmic inflection of the Jewish prayer The Shema, which is considered by observant Jews to be the most important prayer, and it is traditional for Jews to say the Shema as their last words. The prayer was often recited in concentration camps. Toward the end of We Were the Music, the melodic shape and rhythm of the prayer is repeated several times, growing in intensity, range, and volume, as a refrain of defiance and an affirmation of humanity and dignity in the face of unspeakable horror.

S’brent by Isabelle GanzWORLD PREMIERE

The trio for oboe/English Horn, cello and piano which is having its premiere tonight, is based upon a famous song composed in 1938 by Mordekhai Gebirtig, the Krakow-born Yiddish poet and songwriter. Gebirtig was known throughout the Yiddish-speaking world as the “Troubadour of the Jewish People”. In June, 1942, Gebirtig was shot and killed by German soldiers when he refused to comply with a deportation order. His song, “S’brent” (It’s burning) was composed in response to a 1936 pogrom in the Polish town of Przytyk, but in retrospect we see that it was a prophesy of the coming Holocaust. Gebirtig had hoped that his message: “Don’t stand there, brothers, douse the fire!” would be heard as a call to action. Each day, as I read about yet another decision by the U.S. government that is tearing apart our democracy and destroying the careers of those who protest - I hear Gebirtig’s melody and his urgent message.

Music is a Dream by Bruce Adolphe WORLD PREMIERE

The title is a quote from Alice Herz-Sommer, to whose memory this piece is dedicated.

Alice Herz was born in Prague in 1903 to Jewish parents who ran a cultural salon where theyoung Alice met Mahler, Freud, Kafka, and other luminaries of the day. At age five, Alice began to study piano with Conrad Ansorge, a pupil of Franz Liszt.

Bruce Adolphe, Composer

Composer Bruce Adolphe — known to millions of Americans from his public radio show Piano Puzzlers, which has been broadcast weekly on Performance Today since 2002 — has created a substantial body of chamber music and orchestral works inspired by science, visual arts, and human rights. Mr. Adolphe has composed several works based on writings by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio: Body Loops (piano and orchestra); Memories of a Possible Future (piano and string quartet); Self Comes to Mind (solo cello and two percussionists); Obedient Choir of Emotions (chorus and piano); and Musics of Memory (piano, marimba, harp, guitar). Yo-Yo Ma premiered Self Comes to Mind in 2009 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Mr. Adolphe’s other science-based music include Einstein’s Light for violin and piano, recently recorded by Joshua Bell and Marija Stroke on Sony Classical, and his tribute to NASA scientist and astronaut Piers Sellers, I saw how fragile and infinitely precious the world is, which received its world premiere at the Off the Hook Arts Festival in Colorado in 2018 and was performed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in March, 2019. Among his human rights works are I Will Not Remain Silent for violin and orchestra and Reach Out, Raise Hope, Change Society for chorus, wind quintet, and three percussionists. Mr. Adolphe is the resident lecturer and director of family concerts for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the author of several books, including The Mind’s Ear (OUP). He contributed the chapter “The Musical Imagination: Mystery and Method in Musical Composition” to the recently published book Secrets of Creativity: What Neuroscience, the Arts, and Our Minds Reveal (OUP, 2019), an anthology of writings by neuroscientists and artists.

FeaturedArtistsFeaturedArtists

D.M.A. in Voice and Music Literature from the Eastman School of Music. Fulbright Scholar to Jerusalem, Solo Recitalist grant from the N.E.A., former Affiliate Artist in Voice at the Moores School of Music, Lamar University and the University of St. Thomas. Mezzo-soprano soloist with the Slovak Radio Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic (Lukas Foss, conductor), Portland, Maine Symphony, Arad Philharmonic (Romania), Houston Ballet, Aspen Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Voxia Festival (Sao Paulo), Texas Music Festival. Over 20 recordings, including “Ryoanji for Voice and Percussion” by John Cage (composed for her and Michael Pugliese),Luciano Berio’s “Sequenza III”, included on a 4-CD compilation of theSequenzas and cited by the NY Times as “one of the best classical recordings of 2006”. At the age of 10 Ms. Ganz performed Haydn’s Piano Concert in D Major (3rd movement) with the New York Philharmonic on a Young People’s concert.

Her original choral compositions have been published by Boosey and Hawkes, Transcontinental and Shalshelet Publications. In 1989 Ms. Ganz won first prize for her song “Go Away Tango” in the lind Solo Song competition, sponsored by Cornell University. Most recently,her string quartet “A Sephardic Chanukah” was premiered by the Apollo Chamber Players in December, 2018.

Isabelle Ganz, Composer

Named by Musical America as one of classical music’s Top 30 Influencers for 2015 and a Lorée oboe artist in 2019, Texas native, Alecia Lawyer, is the Founder, Artistic Director, and Principal Oboist of ROCO, a professional music ensemble that flexes from 1 to 40 musicians from around the US and Canada, including guest conductors from around the world. Expanding the repertoire, ROCO has commissioned and world premiered over 75 works from living composers. The group performs dozens of concerts annually in multiple venues throughout Houston, many of which are broadcast nationally and live streamed to the world. Known as “The Most Fun You Can Have with Serious Music!” ROCO has been called a trailblazer and arts disrupter and is leading the sector in innovation. Calling her business model “Wildcatting in the Arts”, Ms. Lawyer was named a finalist for Texas Musician of the Year (along with Willie Nelson) and was listed as one of Houston’s Top 50 Most Influential Women. She is a proud senior fellow of American Leadership Forum, a trustee for Episcopal High School, on the advisory board of Bright Sky Press, and a member of the Institute for Composer Diversity. She has received numerous awards, including the Gutsy Gal Award from Houston Woman Magazine and Sigma Alpha Iota Musician of the Year. She regularly presents her entrepreneurial model and dynamic ideas to conservatories, universities, and music festivals around the US, such as Juilliard, Yale, SMU, Round Top, and the Texas Music Festival, using ROCO as a case study for community-specific orchestra building. Business and social groups in the Greater Houston Area engage her to speak on numerous topics related to the creation, innovation, marketing, and development of the arts. After receiving her Masters from Juilliard and Bachelors from SMU, both in oboe, Alecia’s career has ranged from recording for John Cage and soloing with Rostropovich, to a contemporary chamber music recital at Carnegie Hall, live radio broadcasts in New York, and disc jockeying for KRTS-92.1FM, Houston, TX. Enjoying a year residency in France, she recorded with the Sorbonne Orchestra, performed recitals in Paris, and concertized with various orchestras and chamber groups in France and Germany. Alecia and her husband Larry have two fantastic sons, Jacob, 19 and Zachary, 16.

Alecia Lawyer, oboeNikki and Doug Richnow Chair

New Zealand cellist Richard Belcher has performed as ROCO’s principal cellist since 2008. He is also active as a chamber musician and soloist across the USA and internationally. He is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated Enso String Quartet, which boasts multiple highly acclaimed recordings and regular performances in many of the major concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center of New York, and the Library of Congress. Richard has appeared at many festivals, including those in France, the UK, Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Canada, and throughout the U.S. He has been involved with many live and pre-recorded radio, TV, and internet broadcasts in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. Richard enjoys teaching and has served as Adjunct Faculty at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and currently is on the faculty at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp. Richard moved to the U.S. in 1998 to study with Aldo Parisot at Yale University, and it was there in 1999 that he founded the Enso String Quartet. Other major teachers include Norman Fischer, Marc Johnson, and Alexander Ivashkin. Richard is married to ROCO violinist, Cecilia Belcher. When possible they enjoy playing chamber music together, and they also recently performed the Brahms Double Concerto together in St Paul, MN. They live in Minneapolis with their young children, Finn and Annabel.

Richard Belcher, celloDenman - Newman Foundation Chair

The Bronze Medalist of the World Piano Competition in 2015, Dr. Mei Rui was praised by the Boston Globe as a “riveting” virtuoso” and a “brilliant pianist” (Cincinnati Inquirer) with “deeply felt and intense musicality”. New York Classical Review writes of her Grammy-nominated recording “Three by Three” by Eric Nathan (Albany Records): “Rui was amazing at what seemed to be impossible; an excellent pianist with extreme virtuosity.” A native of Shanghai, Mei began her studies at the age of 3, and gave her first solo recital at the age of 10 in front the President of Austria at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna. At age 11, she made her orchestral debut soloing with the Beijing Radio Symphony. Recent concerts include Rachmaninoff Concerto No.3 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Rachmaninoff No.2 at Hobby Center, Rachmaninoff No.1 with real-time fMRI of her brain, season-opening recital at the Louvre Auditorium in Paris, and chamber recitals with Houston Symphony co-concertmaster Eric Halen and Bill Vermeulen. She has appeared at Ravinia Festival, Yellowbarn, PMP, Taos, and Music Academy. She has collaborated members of the Juilliard and Cleveland Quartets, and Itzhak Perlman. She teaches a full studio of award-winning students, many of whom have performed in Carnegie Hall as top prize competition winners and now attend MSM, Rice, Northwestern, and Yale. Dr. Rui is Research Scientist at Methodist’s Center for Performing Arts Medicine. Publications include first author paper in “Surgery.” As a PI she investigates the neurological and psychophysiological impact of music intervention. A graduate of Yale, she holds duo-degrees in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Music. Awards include Sheffield Scientific Scholar for the Excellence in Sciences, Bruce Simonds Fellowship, George Miles Fellowship, and Joseph Seldon Memorial Award. She is an avid scuba diver, a yoga instructor, and a mother of two.

Mei Rui, pianoJim Cross Chair

Video of Alice Herz-Sommer:“The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” (2014 Academy Award Winner - Best Documentary Short Subject)Amos Ritter: YouTube

Video of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch:“The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” Holocaust Memorial Day Trust: Memory Makers ProjectThe Royal College of Music: Singing a Song in a Foreign Land

OUR VISION We envision a society that transforms ignorance into respect for human life, that remembers the Holocaust, and reaffirms an individual’s responsibility for the collective actions of society.

OUR MISSION Holocaust Museum Houston is dedicated to educating people about the Holocaust, remembering the 6 million Jews and other innocent victims and honoring the survivors’ legacy. Using the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides, we teach the dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy.

OUR PUBLIC VALUE STATEMENT Holocaust Museum Houston builds a more humane society by promoting responsible individual behavior, cultivating civility and pursuing social justice.

ForteTy R. Ashford & J. Nicholas Jitkoff* • Fran & Chuck Riepe

Mezzo-forteBowen Foundation • Jaena & Andrew Coit*Lori & Joseph Flowers* • Jo Ann & Bob Fry*

Jane B. Wagner & Family

Mezzo-pianoErin & Daniel Allison* • Joanna & Patrick Cannizzaro*

Mike Muna & Marcus Maroney*Patti & Bruce Potter* • Susanne & Diderico van Eyl*

PianoMarcia & Michael Bos Feldman* • Kate & Malcolm Hawk

Alecia & Larry Lawyer* • Mimi Lloyd • Sandra & Kenneth McClain*Sarah & Doug McMurrey • Elizabeth & Joseph W. Polisi*

Greta & Jeremy Rimpo* • Robin & Tom Segesta* • Jo Dee & Cliff Wright*

➤ Personalities April 4 • 5:00 pm • MATCH

➤exPlorations April 18 • 5:00 pm First Congregational Church of Houston

➤ eye of the World May 2 • 5:00 pm • St. John the Divine

*Founding Member