The Muse in the Fortress

[Sylvie Braitman <curlySylvie...>]

I am presenting my lecture on the fate of music in Europe during the Third 
Reich, at Temple Israel in Alameda.
7:15PM, refreshments then lecture until 9:15/9:30.
suggested contribution:$5


3183 Mecartney Road
Alameda, California 94502
(510) 522-9355 

www.templeisraelalameda.org





The Muse in the Fortress: Music during the Shoah



What was the fate of music during the most destructive events of our era? Did 
it disappear, as did millions of people? 

Or, like many, did it go into hiding? Did it, in the end, rise above the ashes?

This lecture explores the links between the Arts and Politics during the 
domination of the Third Reich over Europe. 

We first analyze the situation in Germany and its consequence on musicians and 
their music. We then move to the ghettos were music was a chronicle of daily 
life as well as a tool of resistance. We end the exploration with the very 
inspiring story of the ghetto of Theresienstadt were creativity was full blown 
in spite of the constant "relocations to the East", which was the name given to 
deportation to death camps.

This is a very inspiring lecture about the strength of the human spirit. 
Musical excerpts of many unknown composers are played, thus opening doors to an 
unsuspected wealth of music creation, that would otherwise be totally fallen 
into oblivion, or worse, never discovered.

Born in Paris from Jewish Polish parents, Sylvie Braitman has been a San 
Franciscan for 13 years. She received her music performance diploma from the 
San Francisco Conservatory of Music She is also a graduate of the prestigious 
Political Sciences Institute of Paris. She performs as a mezzo soprano with 
local opera companies and has designed various one woman shows in which she 
weaves story telling, acting and Yiddish songs

She is well known in the Bay Area as a performer of French Cabaret and has 
recorded a second album "Les Demoiselles de Pigalle".

Her research into the history of Music during the Third Reich has developed 
into a lecture that she has presented in the Bay Area as well as in Montreal.