Performing at Carnegie Hall
This season, I had the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall twice - once with orchestra, and once as soloist.
One concert, my first professional gig in the main Stern Auditorium, was a memorable experience for a multitude of reasons.
I’ve heard many great performers describe their first experience playing at Carnegie Hall. It can be overwhelming knowing the history - the titans who stood there throughout time. So much of our western music history happened in this space. Aside from this, having an entire day to warm-up in the space (even alone with my bass clarinet for a time), it is easy to understand why so many laud the acoustics.
But this experience seems so superficial compared to the incredible privilege of premiering the music of Michel Assael, a holocaust survivor who survived Auschwitz by performing in the orchestra that accompanied victims on their journey to the gas chambers that would take their life. The orchestra did ultimately save his life, but it also caused him a lifetime of pain and guilt, after witnessing the murders of countless others.
After five years of persistent application to leave Europe and pursue his musical career in America, Michel was finally awarded a scholarship to attend the New York College of Music (now the Mannes School of Music). Assael channeled his guilt, pain, and suffering into this work, Auschwitz Symphonic Poém. It wasn’t until our first rehearsal that I truly realized the fact no one had ever heard this music before. None of us knew exactly what to expect. What secrets the music might contain. Many of us in the first read-through, myself included, shed tears when hearing the American national anthem burst through the orchestration at the conclusion of the work.
Michel Assael passed away on July 25, 2006, having never heard his symphony performed. This concert represents a validation of his life as a serious composer and musician. His daughter (a cellist on Broadway!), grandchildren, and many family members attended his premiere.
This concert was widely covered by New York media. Read more: www.fox5ny.com/news/hymns-from-auschwitz
Newsday article, April 13th, 2022
