MSU Symphony Orchestra and Choral Ensembles
Featuring baritone Mark Rucker and concert preview lecture
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, titled Babi Yar, memorializes the massacre of Ukrainian Jews by Nazi forces. The work remains one of the most enduring musical protests against antisemitism. An engaging and informative preview lecture by three scholars and the conductor will precede the concert and explore the historical context of the Holocaust and the artistic reaction and remembrance generated by Shostakovich’s symphony. The work is paired with selections from I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Charles Davidson, settings of poems by Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust.
7pm Preview Lecture
Presenters: Dr. Amy Simon, Dr. Matthew Pauly, Dr. Kevin Bartig, Christopher James Lees.
8pm Concert
I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Charles Davidson. Symphony No. 13 in B-flat minor (Op. 113, Babi Yar) by Dmitri Shostakovich. Christopher James Lees, guest conductor.
This event is coordinated by the Michigan State University College of Music and The Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel at MSU, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus, the Jewish Community Center of Metro Detroit, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra and The Detroit Jewish News.
Generously sponsored by Gretchen and Ethan Davidson, Margie Dunn and Mark Davidoff, Howard J. Gourwitz, The Belle and Julius Harris Visiting Artist Fund established by Lauren Julius Harris, Sue and Alan Kaufman, Iris and Stephen Linder, Rebecca and Alan Ross, Elaine and Michael Serling/The Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel, Drs. Lou A. and Roy J. Simon, Linn Van Dyne and Mike Knox, Jeff D. Williams, Andrea L. Wulf.
