Press Release (English)

BRUNDIBAR-NOTES

A lot is known about the unique history of the children's opera “Brundibar,” which was written by the Czech composer Hans Krasa in 1938 for the children in a Prague orphanage in Czechoslovakia. After the Nazi occupied Prague and sent the resident orphans to the concentration camp Terezin, the cast and other children continued performing the opera there. The children performed it more than 50 times, up until October 1944 when most of the cast, along with other prisoners, including the composer Hans Krasa, were sent to the death camps.

It brings one to tears to watch the Nazi propaganda documentary film, created in 1944 on the order of the Nazi commanders, in which the young performers sing the finale of the opera: “We won a victory! We won a victory!” It is true; in the opera they have won. According to the libretto by A. Hoffmeister, Good triumphs over Evil, and, with help of a Cat, Dog, and Sparrow who were able to organize schoolchildren from nearby, brother Pepicek and sister Anninka won a victory over the greedy hurdy-gurdy player Brundibar, who did not want to give up his place on the town square where he was earning money by playing his instrument. Now Pepicek and Anninka would be able to earn money themselves to buy milk for their sick mother.

On October 27^th and 28^th 2010, “Brundibar” will be performed in the Lincoln Elementary School's auditorium (7 p.m., free admission). Even though this performance of the opera is not the first one in Boston, in some sense it is unique, because the performers will be children from Lincoln Elementary School and from the Musical Theater “Zazerkalie” in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The inspiration for this production comes from the Executive Director of the Educational Bridge Project, Dr. Ludmilla Leibman. After defending her doctoral dissertation at Boston University, she began teaching a course on the music of the Holocaust period there—the first such course in the history of higher education. Every year her BU students produced “Brundibar,” and Professor Leibman keeps a collection of photos, costumes, video-recordings from different years; she even has the backdrop with all her students' autographs on it.

In 2009, on Dr. Leibman's initiative, “Brundibar” was premiered in Russia, by the Children's Studio of the Musical Theater “Zazerkalie,” in one of the most prestigious halls of St. Petersburg, the Actors' House. The Director of the production, Sofia Drabkina, prepared her young actors very well; they not only acted the words of the script but conveyed the gravity of the historical and social context of Hans Krasa's opera. Samantha Gelfon, who gave the introduction to the performance on that evening in May 2009, will introduce the opera again at Lincoln Elementary School on the evenings of October 27^th and 28^th, as part of the Educational Bridge Project's 18^th festival.

Preparations for the collaborative production are going forward full-speed at Lincoln Elementary School. For many months the school's music teacher, Molly Quinlan, has been working with her students on the roles of the soloists and rehearsing the chorus. Five soloists are coming from Russia – the performers of the roles of Anninka, Pepicek, the Cat, the Dog, and the Sparrow accompanied by Director Sofia Drabkina, choirmaster Irina Andriakova, and concertmaster Alexander Bogachev. It will be not an easy job for the young performers from two countries: in less than a week’s time they will have to rehearse, learn how to sing and act together, and all that on top of everyday school work, homework, while the Russians will be communicating only in their second language, English!

The two evenings at Lincoln Elementary School in Brookline will be a culmination of the collaborative work of children and adults from two countries. Thanks go to the School's Principal, Kristen Herbert, for her assistance, to music teacher Molly Quinlan for all the tremendous work she has been doing, to Boston University for their support, and to you, dear future spectators, for your interest. We will be delighted to see you at the “Brundibar” performances on October 27^th and 28^th, and – before that – on the opening day of the EBP’s 18^th festival. The programs are non-traditional, the Russian and American performers excellent, and the discussions open to everyone who wants to participate. Please come to these concerts and to many other festival's events, which will continue through November 10^th. See the program below and visit our website for details and updates: www.educationalbridgeproject.org

 

 

Fall 2010 Schedule (updated 9.7.10)

Sunday, October 24

7:30-8:30 p.m. MIT Chapel. First of three lectures by Ludmilla Leibman in the series Do You Speak … Music? Musical performances by Elena Grigoryeva (cello), Mikhail Krutik (violin), and Leon Gruenbaum (samchillian)

Monday, October 25

 

4-5:30 p.m. New England Conservatory, Concert Hall on St. Botolph Street

Crossroads From Russia and Beyond:  concert and discussion (organized by the NEC Professor Labaree and Matti Kovler)

Trio from the St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum's orchestra

 

Concert Program

1.  Mikhail Krutik - Three pieces for Violin and Piano

2.  Boris Arapov - Sonata for Cello and Piano

3.  Edwin Geist - "Cosmic Spring" for Violin, Cello and Piano

4.  Alfred Schnittke - Suite in the Old Style

5.  Matti Kovler - Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano

 

Tuesday, October 26

 

6-8 p.m. Harvard Club of Boston, Aesculapean Room. Luba Kostenko presentation, slide show, reception, chamber music, Beethoven Piano Trio No. 5 in D major, Op. 70, No. 1 (“Ghost”), performed by Natalia Katonova, piano, Mikhail Krutik, violin, and Elena Grigoryeva, cello:

I.   Allegro vivace e con brio

II.  Largo assai ed espressivo

III. Presto

 

Wednesday, October 27

 

7 p.m. Collaborative Russian-American performance of Hans Krasa's children's opera Brundibar at the Lincoln School, Brookline. Introduction: Samantha Gelfon

 

Thursday, October 28

7 p.m. Collaborative Russian-American performance of Hans Krasa's children's opera Brundibar at the Lincoln School, Brookline. Introduction: Samantha Gelfon

 

Friday, October 29

11:15 a.m. - 12:20 p.m. “Brundibar” Russian cast – at Brookline High School, for Carolyn Castellano's class “Writing Music on the Computer”

 

6 p.m. Musical evening at Dr. John Silber, Boston University President Emeritus house.  Piano recital by Jacob Katznelson with Luba Kostenko drawing during the performance

 

Sunday, October 31

 

3 -5 p.m. Harvard University Lowell House. Piano recital by Jacob Katsnelson, tour of the Bell Tower, reception. Concert program includes Rameau, Prokofiev, Janachek, and Chopin

 

Monday, November 1

7:30-9 p.m. Goethe-Institut of Boston, 170 Beacon Street. Concert with Historic Commentaries: Ullmann-Rilke, Die Weise von Liebe und Tod, narrator Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Friedrich L. Lohr (Boston), pianist Natalia Katonova (St. Petersburg). Introduction Ludmilla Leibman. Reception to follow the event

Wednesday, November 3

7-9 p.m. Boston University Castle. Concert with Historic Commentaries: music by Matti Kovler and Ruth Lomon (Ruth Lomon's compositions tba)

 

 

Matti Kovler's compositions:

1. La Testa di Santa Caterina for Soprano, Clarinet, Cello and Vibraphone (11 min)

2. Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (Natalia Katonova)

3. Piece for Voice and Piano or Clarinet and Piano (piano - Natalia Katonova)

 

Thursday, November 4

 

6-7:30 p.m. Library of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, 147 Bay State Road. Discussions, chamber music - Rosalie Gerut, guitar

 

Friday, November 5

Russian librarians at the Park School, Brookline:  observations, discussions, presentations

Monday, November 8

9:30-11 a.m. Librarians at Simmons College: Round table with faculty members Amy Pattee and Melanie Kimball, specialists in children's collections, Shelley Quezada, specialist in international librarianship, and  Linda Watkins, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science's Librarian at the Beatley Library

11 a.m.-12 noon Beatley Library tour with Linda Watkins

Tuesday, November 9

 

9:30 -11:10 a.m. Librarians meet with Lynn Cohen, the Brookline High School's (BHS) head librarian

 

Professor Zinaida Kartasheva gives a lecture: Professor Jeremy Yudkin's class, Department of Musicology at BU

 

2 -3 p.m. Librarians and Zinaida Kartasheva tour the Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, MA

Wednesday, November 10

8:20-9:10 a.m. Professor Zinaida Kartasheva at Brookline High School, meeting with Carolyn Castellano, Band Director, and attends a rehearsal of the school's Jazz Band