Stories become music

REBECA KUROPATWA

I Believe – A Holocaust Oration for Today is a 90-minute Holocaust-themed piece composed and conducted by Zane Zalis, described by Yad Vashem’s Ephraim Kaye as “an amazingly uplifting and spiritual musical experience ... a must see for all people of good will.” Its première by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) took place last year, accompanied by a 150-voice choir. Last month, the concert was performed again, this time at the Westminster United Church, featuring WSO members, a chorus and soloists Kelsey Cowie and Marko Zeiler from Austria and Marc Devigne from Toronto.

Lyricist and conductor Zalis composed the 12 movements of the concert after a number of Holocaust survivors shared their stories with him, which he then translated into a musical score.

“The subject of this oration gripped and held me and would not let me go,” Zalis told the Independent. “Modern education is very much focused on the new technology and having the newest thing. But when you really think about it, all we really have is each other. It’s very personal for me.”

Introducing the evening, Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s Shelley Faintuch described how the opening song that begins with the chanting of “B-1333” was the number tattooed on the arm of her uncle, Morris Faintuch.

Janice Freeman, a musically knowledgeable concert attendee, said, “I know of Zalis through the Virtuosi Concerts board, [and] he has always struck me as a very intelligent and compassionate man. He has been teaching music in high schools for decades, beginning in the late 1970s, and meets [and] interacts with people from many backgrounds in that way.

“It doesn’t surprise me that a child of eastern European Catholic immigrants would be able to ‘get it.’ Depending on when they came here, they may have been part of the Holmodor [the catastrophic Ukrainian famine of 1932-33] or at least had friends and family who died because of it.”

Freeman has read a lot about the Holocaust, but found this musical tribute particularly poignant. “Music is a universal language and it’s natural to respond to it emotionally. The concert was tremendously moving, sometimes in a hair-standing-on-end way and other times with shivers and goose bumps. Usually this only happens to me at peak moments in choral performances and operas,” she said.

Freeman reflected on how unique it is for the Holocaust to be the focus of an oratorio. “I can’t think of another oratorio that wasn’t on a Christian sacred theme,” she said. “As I was sitting in the concert thinking of it, the only two that came to mind were Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah. This made me think about how a musical form that apparently originated in the Christian church was being used for a non-religious Jewish story.”

The children’s chorus also made an impression on Freeman. “They were amazingly well prepared. Kids are usually taught to smile while they sing. These kids all had appropriately serious expressions the whole time, and always sang in unison. This made me think that, although there were many of them, they were all singing the same song – like the pain the children of the Holocaust suffered, a similar pain even though they experienced it in their individual ways. Many unified voices, or one experience, made the whole thing more universal.”

Freeman saw this as another way to make the story of the Holocaust more accessible. “We’re used to oratorios being serious, dramatic and emotional. It seems like such a good fit – a familiar and suitably serious form for this story. It isn’t surprising that a Ukrainian Catholic boy from Transcona would choose the oratorio as a vehicle to dramatize and universalize the Holocaust.”

Holocaust survivor and event co-chair Arnold Frieman agreed and noted, “It’s incredible how a Roman Catholic is capable of putting to music the emotions of survivors.”

Marilyn Billinkoff, who also attended the concert, added, “This concert hits you emotionally, intellectually and musically. Zane is an amazing talent with a heart big enough for the big issues.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

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