The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: “Out of the Shadows: Playing the Jewish Archive” runs from Sunday through Thursday at the UW-Madison, one of only five venues around the world for this ambitious project to rescue Jewish music endangered by World War II and the rise of the Nazis.

By Jacob Stockinger

Talk about world-class honors.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of only five venues worldwide — and the only one in the United States —  selected to host, perform and participate in “Playing the Jewish Archive: Rediscovering Jewish Music, Literature and Theater.”

The ambitious project, launched by the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, is designed to rediscover and revive Jewish and Yiddish music, and culture in general, that were threatened with extinction by World War II and the rise of Hitler and the anti-Semitism of the Nazis in Europe during the Holocaust.

A preview of the project happened last fall. Here is a link to a previous two-part posting about that event:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2015/08/26/classical-music-the-uw-madison-and-the-bach-dancing-and-dynamite-society-will-hold-free-events-this-coming-sunday-to-help-bring-neglected-jewish-music-and-culture-out-of-the-shadows/

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/classical-music-the-bach-dancing-and-dynamite-society-will-perform-a-free-concert-this-sunday-afternoon-to-help-bring-neglected-jewish-music-out-of-the-shadows-of-history-part-2-of/

But this time the ticketed events (usually $10, $5 for students) – which start this Sunday, May 1, and run through Thursday, May 5 — are longer and more ambitious.

Programs and concerts will take place at the UW’s Mills Hall, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the First Unitarian Society of Madison Meeting House and the Overture Center among other places.

Local performers include the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society; the Madison Youth Choirs; the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) the UW Concert Choir; the Pro Arte Quartet; and others.

Here is a link to the preview and complete day-by-day programs of composers, works and performers that is on the website of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. It also has information about obtaining tickets and a lot of background and context:

http://www.music.wisc.edu/performing-the-jewish-archive-may-2016-events/

And here are two links to other stories in Isthmus and the Wisconsin State Journal, which also highlight the pivotal role that Teryl Dobbs, a professor of music education and the department chair of music education at the UW, played in securing this prestigious as well as historically and artistically important event for Madison and the UW-Madison:

http://isthmus.com/music/jewish-culture-in-spotlight-yiddish-music/

http://host.madison.com/wsj/entertainment/music/global-jewish-music-project-comes-to-madison/article_2db64114-21c1-55ba-b639-c35bc43c2ce8.html

Finally, here is a link to a list of the many programs and performers with times and venues:

http://isthmus.com/events/performing-the-jewish-archive-may/