Events | Darius Milhaud: All the Musics of the World – An event in collaboration with "Opera & Democracy"
Providence, Rhode Island | September 22, 2024
3:30 – 6:00 p.m. (EDT) | Grant Recital Hall, Brown University | Entry: free | More information
DARIUS MILHAUD: ALL THE MUSICS OF THE WORLD commemorates the 50th anniversary of composer Darius Milhaud’s death. Sponsored by the Scheuer Fund for Judaic Studies, Ruth and Joseph Moskow Endowment in Judaic Studies. Cosponsors include Brown’s Department of Music and German Studies as well as the Rhode Island School of Design, and the Neuer Musikverein Berlin. The event is co-presented by the Thomas Mann House as part of our concert and conversation series Opera & Democracy.
The focus will be the opera Esther de Carpentras, based on a 17th-century stage play about the biblical heroine. The event will open with a round table discussion of Milhaud’s music, life, and identity, followed by a video animation interpreting Esther de Carpentras. It will conclude with a chamber music concert including excerpts of the opera and other compositions.
Program
The Brown panel discussion features Gayle Murchison (William and Mary College), Edwin Seroussi (Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Dartmouth College), and Samuel Torjman Thomas (City University of New York, Hunter and John Jay Colleges), and is chaired by Katharina Galor (Brown University). Questions of Jewish identity accompany the issue of how Milhaud’s music shaped the musical landscapes of Germany, France, and the USA. It engages questions of antisemitism, racism, and gender; of Esther as a proto-feminist; Weimar Germany’s fertile ground for modernist music; the sudden shift towards outlawing “Jewish” and “Black” music, art, and lives in the context of Nazi Germany; the impact of American jazz and culture on Milhaud; the relationship between liturgical music and Milhaud’s work; the dialogue between Ashkenazi and Sephardi, between European and Middle Eastern liturgies; between Jews and Christians; the parallels between cantorial music and jazz; and finally Milhaud’s musical and artistic legacy internationally.
A short film Stalk by renowned animation artist Steven Subotnick (Rhode Island School of Design) interpreting Esther de Carpentras, has been created especially for the 50th anniversary of Milhaud's death. It examines the opera’s biblical, medieval, and modern heritage from a contemporary perspective. The screening will be introduced by Katharina Galor (Brown University).
Light refreshments will be served.
In collaboration with Brown pianist Saleem Ashkar, and violist Consuelo Sherba (Department of Music, Brown University), Berlin-based pianist Michal Friedländer (Neuer Musikverein Berlin) is in charge of all musical aspects of the production. Performers include mezzo-soprano Hagar Sharvit (Neuer Musikverein Berlin), tenor Daniel McGrew, violinist Lois Finkel (Brown University), violonist Mina Lavcheva (Rhode Island Philharmonic), cellist Daniel Harp (Brown University), and pianist Angeline Sun (Brown University). The program includes La Creation du Monde, excerpts from Milhaud's Esther de Carpentras, and his famous Scaramouche.
An event hosted by the Program in Judaic Studies at Brown University and co-presented by the Thomas Mann House, Los Angeles. Sponsored by the Scheuer Fund for Judaic Studies and the Ruth And Joseph Moskow Endowment in Judaic Studies at Brown University. Cosponsored by the Department of Music, the Center for Middle East Studies, the Department of German Studies, the Department of French and Francophone Studies, the Department of Religious Studies, the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life at Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Neuer Musikverein Berlin, L’association des amis de Darius Milhaud, and Les amis de la synagogue de Cavaillon.
