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Britten Sinfonia: 1945 – A Kind of Haunting

,Milton Court Concert Hall
Musicians from Britten Sinfonia performing on stage

80 years after the end of WWII, we hear musical responses from then and now. 

You can feel the tension of 1938 in Martinů’s concerto, written when he had left his native Czechoslovakia for Switzerland. Strauss writes from a different perspective, his 1945 elegy lamenting the destruction of Germany and its culture.

With sung and spoken texts by poet Jacqueline Saphra, scholar Marianne Hirsch and the composer himself, A Kind of Haunting explores why and how the trauma of the Holocaust holds such a grip on both the children and grandchildren of victims and survivors. Jewish composer Michael Zev Gordon draws on his grandmother’s memoir, which details the final traces of his grandfather’s life before he was shot in a remote Polish forest. Why is there such an interest in re-visiting, or making present, what was lost many years before?

Tagged with: Classical music Young Barbican Britten Sinfonia

This performance will finish at approximately 9.30pm, including a 20-minute interval

Promoted by Britten Sinfonia

Programme

Bohuslav Martinů Double Concerto for two string orchestras, piano and timpani
Richard Strauss Metamorphosen
Michael Zev Gordon A Kind of Haunting (world premiere)

Performers

Britten Sinfonia
Jonathan Berman conductor
James Newby baritone

Milton Court Concert Hall