ABOUT THE EXHIBIT

The Exhibit’s music, photos, memorabilia, documents and narrative follow the pianists and their families from Conservatory days through the Third Reich and wartime disruption to their U.S. careers and lifelong friendship.

Exhibition Design: Stephanie Reyer

German Translations: Barbara Ann Schmutzler

ABOUT THE PROJECTIONS

Two Pianos’ archival-image projections are drawn from historical images and private collections of the Levin and Hoffman families.

Projection Design and Video Production: Gail Prensky

Audio and Projection Engineer: Sara Marinich

ABOUT TWO PIANOS’ COLLABORATORS

Gail Prensky, creator and director of The Jüdische Kulturbund Project, brings to this premiere deep understanding of the Kulturbund’s spirit which recognizes that issues of living under tyranny continue for artists around the world today. She hopes the Project will serve as a beacon of inspiration to artists and others alike.

Michael and Nora Jean Levin, co-writers and co-producers, began interviewing her parents and their surviving European friends in 1978. The Levins’ four-decade journey through sixty years of family and world history is now a private sourcebook, Papers, Please—A Twentieth Century Odyssey, from which Two Pianos is drawn. Jean and Michael have been part of the Jüdische Kulturbund Project Team since 2017.

We hope you enjoy tonight’s performance and will consider supporting the Project’s efforts. Please visit our website at www.judischekulturbund.com to learn more. We're grateful for old and new connections with Peter Schoenbach, whose advice led us to Settlement, Astral Artists, and the Varsharvky-Shapiro Duo. Special thanks to: Renée and Joe Zuritsky and Daniel Promislo, who introduced both us and this project to Director Ivy Barsky and staff members Megan Helzner, Kate Beach, Josh Perelman and Claire Pingel of the National Museum of American Jewish History;

Kris Rudzinski, Amelia Schmertz and Megan Looby of the Settlement Music School, and Mary Felley, Program Coordinator, Settlement’s Adult Chamber Players; Tania Bieler Haftel, for documents, photos, childhood artifacts, the closing video, and early Settlement School correspondence; and Stephanie Haftel and the Hyatt Corporation. for guest arrangements at the Bellevue Hotel, and Parkway Corporation for assistance with guest parking.

EVENT DONORS

Ken and Anne Hoffman; Nora Jean and Michael Levin / Gail Chesler; Ane Powers / Bob and Susan Glazer; Michael and Phyllis Levy / Ed and Nancy Colodny; Ed and Kandy Hutman; Andrew Levin; Jeremy and Michelle Levin; David and Nancy Oberlander; Mark and Susan Schneider; Paris Singer; Al and Vickie Stein; Steve and Joan Trachtenberg / Howard Gleckman; Sanford and Estelle Harwood; Margot Jones; Elliot Mag; Sandra Malard; Alda Muyskens; Toby Needler; Robert and Phyllis Nelson; Evelyn Summer; Bob and Lisa Suvalsky

The Jüdische Kulturbund Project

presents

PERFORMANCE AND EXHIBIT

Featuring Piano Duo Stanislava Varshavski

and Diana Shapiro

Premiere Saturday, 9 June 2018

7 PM

Presser Hall Settlement Music School

416 Queen Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Anna Character: Stanislava Varshavski

Halina Character: Diana Shapiro

Hirsch Character: Michael H. Levin

Narrators: Nora Jean Levin, Kenneth Hoffman

Pianists Stanislava (Stasi) Varshavski and Diana Shapiro are internationally-acclaimed “four hands” master teachers and performers whose stories echo those of Anna and Halina. Stasi (born Kharkov) and Diana (born Moscow) met at the Jerusalem Conservatory and went on to win competitions in Miami, Rome and Prague. They have been playing and recording together since 1998 and hold music doctorates from the University of Wisconsin.

Nora Jean Levin is the younger daughter of Anna (1908-2003) and Hirsch (1900-1985) Bieler and was born and raised in Philadelphia. Her sister Tania was born in Leipzig 10 years earlier.

Michael Levin, also a Philadelphia native, is the son-in-law of Anna and Hirsch. The Levins met as undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Kenneth Hoffman is Halina Neuman's first-born grandchild. When Halina's daughter Jola came to the States as a student she married Eli Hoffman and eventually produced four sons.

Dedicated to Tania Bieler Haftel

(1933-2017) Founder, Settlement Music School “60 + or -” (now Adult Chamber) Players Program, 1988

PROGRAM

Welcome: Gail Prensky, Creator and Project Director, The Jüdische Kulturbund Project Narrators: Nora Jean Levin; Michael H. Levin; and Dr. Kenneth Hoffman Pianists: Varshavski-Shapiro Piano Duo, reading main character roles and playing:

Waltz from Suite for 2 Pianos, Op. 15, No. 1 Anton Arensky Scherzo from F Minor Sonata, Op. 34b Johannes Brahms Burlesque from “The Juggler,” Op. 31, No. 3 Ernst Toch Mazurka, Op. 63, No.2 Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

Video: Anna Bieler with “60 Plus” Chamber Players, Settlement Jenkintown Branch (June 2, 1992). Videographer: Stephanie Haftel Discussion, Exhibit, Reception

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

Two Pianos is a one-hour piano event that recreates the courage and artistry of young mothers who performed for Jewish audiences after the Nazis banned Jews from public performances. Music and narration tell the stories of concert pianists Anna Burstein and Halina Neuman, who met as "alien student residents" at the Leipzig Conservatory in the 1920s, and played two-piano concerts with the Leipzig Jüdische Kulturbund after 1933. Anna came to Philadelphia in 1938 and was on the Settlement Music School faculty for almost 40 years. In 1939 she played the first of her many recitals in this hall. Halina survived the Holocaust and came to the U.S. in 1951. She performed widely in New Jersey and joined the Rutgers University piano faculty. The women were life-long friends.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

Anton Arensky (1861-1906): His two-piano Waltz (1888) was famed for its elegance. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) re-scored his sonata for two pianos from his F Minor Sonata Piano Quintet for piano and strings, often called “the crown of his chamber music.” Ernst Toch (1887-1964) Avant-garde Vienna modernist, wrote his burlesque Juggler suite in 1923, became a Hollywood film composer, and received a Pulitzer Prize for his Third Symphony (1957). Frederic Chopin (1810-1849): His poetic Mazurka (1846) has been described as “one of his most moving.”

ABOUT THE JÜDISCHE KULTURBUND PROJECT

The Project (founded 2002) explores musicians and artists living under oppression and how they respond using music and art. Our story begins with Jewish musicians and other performing artists in Nazi Germany and connects their examples to current-day artists around the world, highlighting the role of identity, the power of music, the resiliency of the human spirit and the will to survive.

We seek to link people who share common experiences of persecution, inspiring them to respond through cultural expression.

Project initiatives include live presentations; music, dance, and drama performances; education programs that involve designed art and music exercises; and dramatic feature films. We'd love you to visit our Website (jüdischekulturbund.com), where we share stories about the Kulturbund, its activities, and nearly 40 current-day participating artists from 24 countries.

In addition to tonight's Two Pianos première, the Project is re-creating as Hannah’s Dance the last dance of the Berlin Kulturbund in August 1939.

We’re developing The Ring Project, a multimedia play inspired by the Kulturbund’s first production, Nathan the Wise, in October

1933; The Opus, a fictional play with music inspired by the story of young Czech composer Gideon Klein (1919-1945); Singer, a dramatic feature film that takes us back in time to the Berlin Kulturbund; and Artivists, a museum exhibit that explores “art against oppression” from the Kulturbund to current-day artists around the world.

Our education programs include in-school workshops for children and teachers, and a Skype project to connect kids around the world. We’ve given presentations on Capitol Hill, in Sweden, Poland, and elsewhere.

We hope you enjoy tonight’s performance and will consider supporting the Jüdische Kulturbund Projects. All contributions are tax-deductible through the Project’s fiscal sponsor the International Documentary Association, by check or on line, (http://www.judischekulturbund.com/support-and-sponsorship/ ).

Payable to International Documentary Association. In the Memo line, write for The Jüdische Kulturbund Project (Two Pianos)

Gail Prensky, Creator, Executive Producer, Director The Jüdische Kulturbund Project 4000 Cathedral Avenue, NW #505B Washington, DC 20016 P; 202.333.8624 judischekulturbund@gmail.com