6157 JBW Programme Pages ONLINE v8 - Flipbook - Page 23
LIVE AT KINGS PLACE
TUE 28 FEB 20.30–21.30
A Small Town in Ukraine
Bernard Wasserstein
Decades ago, historian Bernard Wasserstein set out to uncover
the hidden past of Krakowiec, where his family originated. Now
he recounts its dramatic history across centuries of conflict as
Cossacks, Swedes and Muscovites rampaged through. In the Age
of Enlightenment, a Polish magnate created an arcadia of serenity;
under the Habsburgs it became a typical shtetl. Both World Wars
left terrible legacies and today hordes of refugees flee for their lives
from Ukraine to Poland. The people of Krakowiec, including his own
family, become a prism through which we can feel the shocking
immediacy of history.
H1
20.30–21.30
£18.50
Barbaric Verses
Mark Glanville, accompanied by Marc Verter
A musical refutation of Adorno’s dictum that to write poetry after
Auschwitz is barbaric, inspired by the creativity of composer
Mieczysław Weinberg in the face of totalitarian brutality from
both Hitler and Stalin. The programme also includes music by
his Russian friends Dmitri Shostakovich, Georgy Sviridov and
Nikolai Myaskovsky, the Ukrainian Boris Lyatoshynsky and the
Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, as well as young FrenchJewish composer Olivier Milhaud’s music on the writings of Avrom
Sutzkever, whose poetry saw life and beauty amidst the atrocities of
the Vilna ghetto.
The performance was created by and stars internationally renowned
singer Mark Glanville, author of The Goldberg Variations, and Israeli
pianist Marc Verter, previously artistic director of the Chelsea
Schubert Festival.
H2
20.30–21.30
£15
23