I am writing this article on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Ninety years ago, Jews in Nazi Germany were forbidden by law to attend concerts together with non-Jews, and 8,000 musicians, artists, dancers, opera singers and actors were expelled from their jobs. Instead, for propaganda purposes, they were offered their own Jewish orchestras and concerts, featuring the Jüdische Kulturbund, or Jewish Culture Association, created under the auspices of Joseph Goebbels’s ‘Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.’
In one way this backfired, as the great concerts, theater and operas were always sold out and brilliantly performed by the best musicians in the world. Nevertheless, only Jews could attend. It also was a haven for these expelled musicians. Later, some were able to emigrate to the United States, and a number of them emigrated to Palestine to form the orchestra which is now known as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. If you wish to know more about this, I recommend Martin Goldsmith’s excellent book, “The Inextinguishable Symphony.”
In contrast, during a time of increasing antisemitism around the United States, on May 4, the National Symphony Orchestra featured Nurit Bar-Joseph, the NSO concertmaster, as soloist/guest artist in two works by Beethoven. She has an Israeli American father, and while developing her skills as a young artist, her family was committed to finding the best musical training available by driving regularly from Boston so she could attend the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, where she studied with Robert Mann. She plays on a G.B. Guadagnini, 1773 violin.
Nurit Bar-Joseph was appointed in 2001 at the age of 26 to the much sought after concertmaster chair and became the youngest concertmaster of any orchestra. All of this is a testament to a supportive arts community. As a result, many teenagers, college students and young violin students in puffy gowns and a few boys with bow ties attended the program. How refreshing to see the Kennedy Center Concert Hall filled to the top balconies for a delightful evening of music with the future audience for performers of classical music.
The first half of the program conducted by Maestro Manfred Honeck (guest conductor and conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) included a riveting performance masterfully played by the orchestra, of the overture to Beethoven’s opera, Fidelio (Op.72b).
Soloist and concert artist Nurit Bar-Joseph delivered a lyrical performance of Beethoven’s Romance No. 2 in F Major for Violin and Orchestra. Romance No. 1 in G Major, Op. 40 was more dramatic, and in each composition, Bar-Joseph’s playing and command grew in tone and stature, perfectly comfortable with her role as soloist with the full support of conductor and orchestra. She has regularly been featured in the classical violin repertoire. All parents hoping for a bit more practice from their violin students would do well to attend such concerts where standard repertoire is featured with the most dedicated soloists and a magnificent orchestra.
As Maestra Bar-Joseph entered the stage, it was clear she had the total support of the orchestra members who applauded both her entrance and her bows, along with a enthusiastic audience that gave her a standing ovation.
During this difficult time that we are living through, we find the Kennedy Center and NSO supportive in the artists they’ve presented this year, including violinists Gil Shaham, following Maestro Gianandrea Noseda’s visit to Israel after Oct. 7, and Hilary Hahn’s performance of Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto, composed by a German-Jewish refugee composer in Hollywood. In the coming weeks, the NSO will feature Randall Goosby playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.
You might be thinking — what’s a concertmaster? It is the first chair violinist of an orchestra, who in addition to learning the scores of numerous program works and being an outstanding violinist, tuning the orchestra and working closely with the conductor, also marks parts for the phrasing of string instruments. If you want the orchestra to play well and together, this is crucial, and the NSO sounds more impressive every time I’ve attended this season. We should recognize and appreciate the support of great concert works, including those by Jewish composers and performing artists in our time. The NSO and Kennedy Center continue to be supportive and welcoming. This is a great comfort in these difficult times.
Is there a further connection to America’s orchestras and Israel’s great orchestras and the violin, as well as American ideals? On Yom HaShoah this year, we can appreciate that American music and art have been supportive in the best way. That’s a win for everyone.
Arnold Saltzman is a composer of opera, symphonies and chamber music based in Washington, D.C., and rabbi/cantor emeritus of Adas Israel Congregation. He was awarded the Bloom Jewish Music Foundation Prize for 2023. His “A Choral Symphony: Halevi” premiered in Alba, Italy in 2018, and in 2019 with American University Orchestra and Chorus. He is composing a violin concerto.