Recital and Masterclass with Kenneth Radnofsky

Wednesday, September 20

Saxophone Masterclass - 10-11:30 AM in the Doolittle

Recital - "Looking for Higher Ground: Music by Emigres and Refugees" - 12 PM in the Eckhardt Gramatté

Looking for higher ground—a brighter future—safety for family—in the cases of tonight’s composers, a chance to continue life and pursue artistry.  

For Hugo Kauder, Paul Ben-Haim and Ursula Mamlok it was escaping Nazi Germany. Kauder went to the US; Mamlok to Ecuador (and also soon thereafter New York) and a long career at Manhattan School; Paul Ben-Haim(born Frankenburger) settled in Israel in a successful career as arguably its finest composer; Rachmaninoff managed to leave post-Bolshevik Revolution Russia and make his way with his family through Sweden—after his house was burned and his piano thrown out the window—never to return; while Jakov Jakoulov left a failing Soviet Union for Israel and, ultimately, Boston.

While many of my concerts over the years honor those such as Ullmann and Schulhoff (not to mention millions never to be heard) who perished, with lives and potential cut short in these same times, this concert simply recognizes a few who were able to escape or make their way through the troubled environment, creating works of beauty, in an ultimately safer place. They were the lucky ones.  

And we shall not forget.                                                                                  

-Ken Radnofsky