The winter season kicks off a new Holocaust Composer Series—a collaboration between the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) to humanize Holocaust education.
“We wanted to bring everything to life through story and music,” said Maureen Byrne, vice president of education and community programs at the SLSO.
Missouri recently became the 21st state to mandate annual education about the Holocaust between the months of January and April for public school students grades 6-12 via the Missouri Holocaust Education and Awareness Act. With the collaboration from the SLSO and Holocaust Museum through the Holocaust Composer Series, all presentations and performances will be filmed and available as a digital classroom resource to anyone in the state and eventually, the country.
There will be a community performance to kick off the series at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 6 at United Hebrew Congregation; this will include talks from Helen Turner, director of education and interpretation at the Holocaust Museum, along with Sarah Ruddy, education programs manager at SLSO, as well as a live musical performance.
This performance will highlight the life of Pavel Haas—a Czech composer who was murdered in the Holocaust. According to Music and the Holocaust’s website, Haas began composing at age 14. During the Holocaust, however, his successful career was turned upside down. Performances of his works were even banned. When he was transported from Brno to Theresienstadt in 1941, he continued to compose. His music was also performed by prisoners in Terezin. On Oct. 16, 1994, he was deported to Auschwitz and died via gas chamber shortly following arrival.
Musicians will play Haas’ String Quartet No. 3, Op. 15, and include SLSO’s Alison Harney on the violin, Nathan Lowry on the violin, Beth Guterman Chu on the viola and Yin Xiong on the cello.
All other composer presentations will take place at the Holocaust Museum in 2025, and the first education installment will be available on Jan. 27, 2025, which is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“I hope that this will be a new gateway into Holocaust education that resonates with both students and visitors,” said Turner.
The community performance at United Hebrew is free, but pre-registration is requested. More details here.
