Traces of Musical Memory

The background of musical performances in Galicia Jewish Museum is the photographic exhibition. This collection of photographs, taken by British photographer Chris Schwarz, constitute a shocking picture of emptiness left after the Holocaust on the Polish soil where Jews have been living for many years.

Nevertheless, the world of Jewish culture didn’t disappear completely. Unique cultural treasures have remained, including literature, paintings and music. Today, when abandoned synagogues and graveyards are turning into dust.

The concerts organized in our museum will feature the performance of musical works to which the contribution of Jewish artists to Polish music has been especially valuable. The multicultural nature of Polish society contributed to the unique style and high artistic value found in the music created in this country.

Due to the modest resources of our museum, it is not our intention to present a comprehensive account of the Jewish heritage in Polish music. We rather aim at presenting some select and particularly beautiful pieces of music, in the style and emotions of which one can find traces of Polish-Jewish creative interactions.

Our concerts mainly present violin music, because Jewish violinists have had a very important impact on the musical culture in Poland. A prominent position in the history of Polish violin music is held by Henryk Wieniawski, a great composer and outstanding performer. Besides Wieniawski, there were a whole galaxy of violin stars of Jewish origin, such as Bronisław Huberman, Roman Totenberg, Henryk Szeryng, as well as Paweł Kochański, a friend of the eminent Polish composer Karol Szymanowski.

The friendship between Szymanowski and Kochański can be seen as a symbol of deep relationships between artists of various origins, which were the basis for rich artistic inspirations and subsequent musical works. This suggests that classifying art and artists according to a particular group or nation doesn’t make much sense.By listening to masterpieces by Wieniawski or Szymanowski, it is possible to hear echoes of a world which no longer exists.

Last but not least, it is our intention, in presenting some works of great Polish composers, to commemorate Jewish performers who loved this music. While listening to Chopin it would be easier to recall the memory of numerous pianists murdered in ghettos, or to remember Władysław Szpilman, who had the luck to be saved by music.

The program:

The performers:

Paweł Słoniak

Maciej Janas

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