This Wednesday, April 18th, in collaboration with the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, the Center for European Studies will present our end of semester program: a lecture and recital moderated by Timothy Cheek (Associate Professor of Voice), featuring Caroline Helton (Assistant Professor of Voice, U-M), Kathryn Goodson (piano) and Allen Schrott (bass-baritone).

Through vocal music, we are given a direct connection with a composer’s unique personality and the culture and times in which the composer lived. Anticipating the University Musical Society concert by the Pavel Haas Quartet, this presentation will examine the life and works of the award-winning Czech Jewish composer Pavel Haas (1899–1944), who continued to compose songs while interned at the Terezín concentration camp. The lecture will also touch on other Jewish composers (Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Robert Kahn, Erich Korngold, Vittorio Rieti and Kurt Weill), contemplating their individual, unique stories, how their careers before the war and their nationalities played a major role in the formation of their compositional voices, and the affect of World War II upon their lives and music.

Join us for this free public event marking the National Days of Remembrance in commemoration of the Holocaust.