Boris Lurie Art Foundation presents the premiere of
Marvin David Levy's Oratorio
Atonement, sung by
Ana María Martínez and
Richard Crawley and narrated by
Mario M. Cuomo, in free concert at
Temple Emanu-El, April 28,
2011.
Levy's Atonement is a reworking of three of Levy's previous pieces that have never before been performed in
New York City. Exploring three critical moments of
Jewish history -- "
Holocaust", "
Inquisition", and "
Masada" -- Atonement will be performed by
Grammy Award-winning soprano Ana María Martínez and tenor Richard Crawley with narration by Mario M. Cuomo, former governor of the state of
New York and father of current governor
Andrew M. Cuomo.
Eugene Kohn, who boasts an extensive recorded discography with
Plácido Domingo, will lead a full choir and orchestra for the concert, which will be filmed for future television broadcasts on dates and networks to be announced.
Winner of two
Guggenheim Fellowships and two
Prix de Rome awards, Marvin David Levy (b.1932) is best known for his opera
Mourning Becomes Electra, which debuted at the
Metropolitan Opera in
1967 and was embraced by
Leonard Bernstein, who called it "a tremendous achievement." Atonement represents a re-working of three pieces by Levy that explore catastrophic episodes in Jewish history. The opening movement, "Holocaust", a short soundscape for chorus, concerns the most recent historical event, and is especially poignant since the visual artist Boris Lurie (1924-2008), who co-founded the NO!art movement and in whose name the foundation was established, was himself a
Holocaust survivor.
Atonement's middle movement, "Inquisition", originally titled
Canto de los marranos ("
Song of the
Crypto Jews"), depicts the predicament of late-15th-century
Spanish Jews.
Forced to convert to Christianity, they were expelled from their country when it was discovered that they still practiced Judaism in secret. A
Naxos recording of the Canto prompted
Opera News to admire "the thoughtful dramatic contours of the piece and the yearning beauty of the vocal lines," and the magazine praised soprano Ana María Martínez for her "sympathetic and impressive account." Now,
New Yorkers will have the opportunity to hear the lyric soprano's rendition of Canto (as "Inquisition") in live performance, as well as narration from the
Honorable Mario M. Cuomo, who is featured in the same movement.
"Masada", Atonement's finale, was originally written for the great
American tenor
Richard Tucker, who premiered it with the
National Symphony Orchestra under
Antal Dorati in
1973. The April 28 performance showcases the up-and-coming tenor Richard Crawley. The movement's title refers to the ancient
Jewish fortress on the shore of the
Dead Sea in which 960 men, women, and children held out for three years against
Roman attack in the first century
A.D. When the
Roman invasion was imminent, they proudly chose mass suicide, leaving their enemies only a barren victory. Their story was recorded by the Romano-Jewish historian
Josephus and forms the textual framework for Levy's oratorio. According to the composer, "Here we remember an uncommon moment when the vanquished may be counted among history's ultimate survivors, rendering the epic of Masada a shining metaphor for us all."
Temple Emanu-El, the majestic setting for the Atonement premiere, is the largest Jewish house of worship in the world and one of the city's preeminent architectural, cultural, and religious landmarks. It is located on
65th Street at
Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Commenting on the impetus for this free concert,
Gertrude Stein,
President of the Boris Lurie Art Foundation, explains:
"It was one of the central missions of Boris Lurie's art never to let people forget the horrors of the Holocaust, so that something this terrible could never happen again. By presenting a free concert of Marvin David Levy's Atonement, the Foundation is not only keeping alive the memory of the
Shoah but also giving life to a great musical work that deserves to be heard in New York City."
- published: 21 Oct 2013
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