DACAMERA, Boniuk Institute And Holocaust Museum Houston To Present Free Performance And Panel Discussion

DACAMERA of Houston, together with Rice University's Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance and Holocaust Museum Houston, presents The Music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, a free performance by pianist and DACAMERA Artistic Director Sarah Rothenberg with DACAMERA Young Artists on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m., at Holocaust Museum Houston, 5401 Caroline Street. The performance will be preceded by a panel discussion featuring Rothenberg in discussion with Patrick Summers (Houston Grand Opera music director) and Jeremy Eichler (critic, essayist and author of the forthcoming book Time's Echo: War, Modern Music and the Soundscapes of Memory). The performance and panel discussion are part of the Boniuk Institute's ongoing efforts to promote religious tolerance and literacy.

For the concert, Rothenberg, piano, along with DACAMERA Young Artists Mary Grace Johnson, violin; Tinca Belinschi, violin; Pablo Muñoz Salido, viola; and Christoph Wagner, cello, will perform Mieczyslaw Weinberg's Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 18. Born and raised in Warsaw, Weinberg exhibited unusual musical talent from a young age, but his studies at the Warsaw Conservatory were interrupted in 1939 with the rise of the Nazis. He fled east to Minsk, and again to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where he established ties to the artist community that brought recognition to the young composer's first symphony.

While Weinberg was held in the highest regard by his contemporaries, the works of this brilliant and prolific musician were, until recently, unknown outside of Russia. He has gained a posthumous reputation as "one of the most interesting composers of the 20th century" (violinist Gidon Kremer). Since Houston Grand Opera's revival of Weinberg's opera, The Passenger, the composer's reputation has continued to grow. The Piano Quintet is a dark and tragic composition that, in five movements, seems to encapsulate the Polish-Russian composer's life story. Symphonic in scale and dramatic scope, this piece is widely regarded as one of the greatest works of this form of the 20th century.

This project is co-presented by Rice University's Boniuk Institue for Religious Tolerance, DACAMERA and Holocaust Museum Houston. Major support is provided by The Boniuk Institute and the Association for Jewish Studies Arts and Culture Community Grant. Admission is free, but registration is required. Event-goers may register online at https://hmh.org/RSVPWeinberg.

About The Boniuk Institute

The Boniuk Institute at Rice University is dedicated to nurturing religious tolerance and advancing religious literacy, respect and mutual understanding among people of all and no faiths, through research, educational initiatives, community engagement, and the arts.

About Holocaust Museum Houston

Holocaust Museum Houston, Lester and Sue Smith Campus, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization founded in 1996 by Houston-area Holocaust Survivors, their descendants and members of the community, is accredited by The American Alliance of Museums. Average annual attendance is 130,000 visitors, including more than 71,000 middle and high school students. The Museum is dedicated to educating people about the Holocaust, remembering the 6 million Jews and other innocent victims and honoring the survivors' legacy. Using the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides, we teach the dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy.

About DACAMERA

DACAMERA's mission is to produce and present concert experiences with a commitment to quality and innovation that broadens the audience for chamber music and jazz. From its founding, DACAMERA's varied programming has consisted of chamber music in its broadest definition including both classical music and jazz, bringing highly acclaimed local, national and International Artists together in inspiring productions. DACAMERA's programs were among the first in the nation to connect music to literature, theater and visual art, and to use video in multimedia concert productions. Among the first to incorporate jazz into a classical chamber music series, DACAMERA is now recognized as the leading jazz presenter in the region.

Committed to the creation of new work, DACAMERA has commissioned and premiered more than 30 new works in 30 years, many of which continue to be performed around the world by leading musicians. DACAMERA has received numerous national awards for its creative programming concepts, and its original productions have been hailed in national press as "trendsetting" (Time Out New York), showing "unusual care and intelligence" (The New York Times) and an "ingenious thematic idea...brilliantly used" (The Washington Post). The Houston Chronicle describes DACAMERA as "a Houston gem."