On Sunday, May 25, the St. Louis Chamber Chorus will present a powerful and poignant concert titled “War and Peace,” featuring the works of Jewish composers Darius Milhaud and Vally Weigl. The concert will take place at Congregation B’nai Amoona at 3 p.m.
The program explores themes of conflict, survival and healing through music composed before, during and after World War II. Milhaud and Weigl, both of whom fled Nazi persecution, are central to the program. The Chamber Chorus will perform Milhaud’s dramatic cantatas—multi-part vocal works with instrumental accompaniment—as well as choral works by Weigl receiving their St. Louis premieres.
Also featured on the program are motets—short choral pieces known for their harmonic richness—by American composers Aaron Copland, Libby Larsen and George Rochberg.
The composer who turned escape into art
Darius Milhaud, born in southern France in 1892 to a long-established Jewish family, was already a celebrated composer before the war. A key member of the modernist French group known as “Les Six,” Milhaud built a career on bold, unconventional music that wasn’t afraid to mix the serious with the playful.
But when the Nazis took Paris in 1940, everything changed. According to the Milken Archive of Jewish Music, Milhaud fled to the United States with his wife and son, landing teaching gigs at Mills College in California and the Aspen Music School. He never stopped composing. His works from this period draw on Jewish liturgy, street rhythms from his time in Brazil, and jazz he first heard in Harlem clubs. His music is layered, raw, and full of life.
The Chamber Chorus will perform several of Milhaud’s cantatas, written on the brink of war and still brimming with urgency and resistance.
The composer who turned healing into music
Vally Weigl was born in Vienna in 1894. A classically trained pianist and musicologist, she fled Austria in 1938 with her husband and son after the Nazi annexation. They made it to New York, but the trauma followed. Her mother died by suicide. Her sister was murdered at Ravensbrück concentration camp.
In exile, Weigl began composing more seriously—and more personally. According to the Karl Weigl Foundation, she became a pioneer in music therapy, using sound to help children with disabilities and veterans suffering from trauma. Her pieces, often written for small vocal ensembles or chamber groups, are intimate and driven by emotion, memory, and her lifelong commitment to peace.
Her work has rarely been performed in St. Louis—until now.
What: War and Peace
When: May 25 at 3 p.m.
Where: Congregation B’Nai Amoona, 324 S Mason Rd.
Tickets: Tickets are available through the St. Louis Chamber Chorus website. General admission is $30, with student tickets available for $10.
