A view of pre-Revolution Russian Jewish life will be on display in Seattle next month.
Russian piano duo Olga Skorbyashchenskaya and Konstantin Uchitel will make their Seattle debut performing a unique program dedicated to the 100-year anniversary of the foundation of the St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music. The program will consist of two parts: one titled “Longing for Home,” and the other called “Music of the Jewish Stage.” The compositions on the program range from contemporary to early last century, and reflect the style and culture of the society.
The organization, which was dissolved during the early years of the Bolshevik regime, attempted to establish a new Jewish national art music based on ethnic, as well as religious, heritage. The society was the first Jewish musical institution in Russia, with its initial activities centered on harmonizing and arranging Jewish folk music collected from various parts of the Russian Empire. Members were soon attracted to shaping the folk material into compositions for concert presentations, however, and in its ultimate stage, the society aimed at creating original compositions — based on or inspired by the Jewish heritage in their region. The members believed that the accumulation of these works should eventually become a national Jewish art music.
One important composer from this period who will be featured on the Seattle program is Mikhail (Moisei) Milner. Milner lived in Leningrad throughout his life, and, until his death in 1953, was the last remaining member of the Society for Jewish Folk Music. The score for the music from his play Koldun’va, which was lost during the second World War, has been reconstructed for keyboard based on surviving sketches.
Another composer featured on the program from the same era is Mikhail Gnesin, one of Russia’s best-known composers from around 1910 to the 1940s, and an important teacher. Skorbyashchenskaya and Uchitel will perform his suite, “The Jewish Band at the Ball in Nothing-town.”
Several other composers from this era will also be represented. Picking up the mantel from these composers is a contemporary St. Petersburg composer by the name of Leonid Desyatnikov, born in 1955. His work, titled “Toska po rodine” or “Longing for Home,” “interprets the Jewish theme in a unique and unexpected fashion, engaging in a dialogue that is not without some irony with the well-known piece by Grieg,” according to Skorbyashchenskaya. His work will be one of a few contemporary pieces performed on the program.
Both of the pianists in this duo are scholars and musicologists who have studied Jewish composers for many years. Skorbyashchenskaya has degrees in Piano and Music History and is an assistant professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Her partner Uchitel is an historian and music critic who graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Theatrical Art. He also composes music and writes dramatic works for the theater, as well as produces concerts of contemporary music.
They have been brought to Seattle by a non-profit organization called DoubleSharp, which is dedicated to presenting artistic and educational events with an emphasis on contemporary and world music. Representatives from DoubleSharp first heard about this program from New York Times music critic Richard Taruskin, who attended the concert in St. Petersburg last season and was extremely excited about the program and the pianists. They haven’t played it in New York, so most works will be U.S. or world premieres of new arrangements.
DoubleSharp was established five years ago by local music professor Paul Taub. The name “DoubleSharp” comes from a musical term indicating that a tone is raised two half steps, or one full tone, above the note. The group decided on this name to indicate artistic sharpness and an unusually adventurous approach to its programs.
Taub, a flautist, is a leading soloist and recitalist who performs chamber and contemporary music in the Northwest. A professor of music at Cornish College of the Arts, he is also a founding member and the executive director of the Seattle Chamber Players. He has extensive experience with American, Soviet/Russian, and international contemporary repertoire.
Many of DoubleSharp’s past performances have centered on Russian and Eastern European repertoire using Seattle Chamber Player musicians.
“The inspiration [for creating the group] was to present some rarely heard music mostly from this region, because here in Seattle there are large immigrant communities who want to hear music from their home countries,” said DoubleSharp board member Elena Dubinets.
The concert will be performed at the newly renovated Chapel performance space at the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood.
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