November 9, 2021 | 7:30PM
Online
Ensemble-in-Residence, Division of the Humanities
New Budapest Orpheum Society
"When We Remembered Zion"
When synagogues and Jewish shops across Germany were systematically burned and the material culture of German Jews was destroyed on Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass, November 9, 1938 – the full force of anti-Semitism and the violence that would transform it into the final stages of the Shoah were unleashed. The NBOS 2021 commemoration performance gathers songs of remembrance and resistance to give voice to the Jewish lives that were driven from Central and Eastern Europe in the aftermath of Kristallnacht. Of even greater significance are the voices of those who did not survive, but whose struggle and dignity are present in the Jewish music of remembrance. The songs this evening range from folk song to art song, songs of exile and songs of survival, the music of sacrifice and the music of redemption, with compositions by Paul Dessau, Mordechai Gebirtig, Ilya Levinson, Darius Milhaud, and singer-songwriters from diverse European cabaret scenes.
The New Budapest Orpheum Society is an Ensemble-in-Residence in the Division of the Humanities at the University of Chicago. NBOS presents 1-2 concerts each year, drawing upon a wide range of repertories, many forgotten, others preserved in European archives, all poignantly bearing witness to the great tradition of Jewish cabaret.
This concert will premiere on this page and on YouTube on Tuesday, November 9 at 7:30 PM CT and will be available to watch on demand after the initial premiere. If you are watching the premiere, you may need to refresh the page at the start time to access the video.
Special thanks to the sponsors of this event: The Department of Music, The Joyce Z. and Jacob Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies, The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, and The Division of the Humanities.