Jason C. Tramm to Conduct Concert to Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, 'Night of Broken Glass,' 11/9-17

On Sunday November 17 at the historic Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark Jason C. Tramm will conduct New Jersey's Kristallnacht Concert in works by Bernstein, Halpern, Levine and Miller. The concert marks the finale of New Jersey's official week long observance, November 9 through 17, of the 75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the "Night of Broken Glass."

The music chosen by Jason Tramm for New Jersey's Kristallnacht Concert will feature compositions of hope and renewal in response to the savagery of November 9 and 10, 1938. In coordinated attacks throughout Nazi controlled Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland paramilitary forces and rioters burned and plundered Jewish homes, businesses, hospitals, schools, cemeteries and synagogues while local authorities stood aside. Kristallnacht refers to the broken shards of glass found littered on streets throughout the land from the windows of synagogues, Jewish-owned stores, community centers, and homes destroyed during the state sponsored night raids. Over 1,000 synagogues and 7,500 businesses were vandalized and looted. At least 91 Jews were killed in the attacks, and over 30,000 people were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps. The horrors of Kristallnacht heralded Hitler's "final solution" of genocide toward European Jews.

Tramm's structure for the Kristallnacht Concert will open with the dark and somber Holocaust-themed cantata entitled 'To Remember It All,' composed by Cracow émigré Eddie Halpern, followed by "Kadish" sung by Cantor Daniel Neiden, 'I Believe' by Mark Miller, and 'Hine Ma Tov,' arranged by Iris Levine, to reflect the overarching theme of darkness to light, and the concert will conclude with Leonard Bernstein's beautifully-symbolic Chichester Psalms. The concert also incorporates a unique interpretive ballet featuring dancer Javier Baca in a pas de deux with a broken glass theme. Tramm's concert selections engage the audience in music "dealing with conflict, inward drama, and strife but ends with harmony and people coming together in brotherhood and unity to rise above the horrors."

The Kristallnacht Concert will feature noted soloists Christina Major, Soprano, Julie Diniz, Soprano, Mary Clare McAfee, Mezzo-Soprano, Theodore Chletsos, Tenor, and Jeremy Galyon, Bass with the 70 member Seton Hall Chamber Choir and boy soprano soloists from the Newark Boys Chorus. Accompanying the singers will be musicians Eric Kramer, Piano, Diane Michaels, Harp, John Miller, Organ and James Musto III, Percussion.

Tramm's artistic collaboration with the innovative programming produced through Seton Hall University's Sister Rose Thering Fund for Education in Jewish Christian Studies and Luna Kaufman, renowned Holocaust survivor, author, educator, and Chairperson Emerita of the program has merited recognition and has established Tramm as promulgating both the "forgotten music" and new compositions relating to the Holocaust. Tramm's work in New Jersey and New York include Hans Krása's opera Brundibar (originally performed at the Theresienstadt concentration camp) and Gershon Kingsley's opera Raoul (about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, whose efforts saved 14,000 Hungarian Jews in Budapest yet cost him his life). Tramm currently serves as Artistic Director of the MidAtlantic Opera, Music Director of Ocean Grove CMA summer season and is assistant professor and director of choral activities at Seton Hall University.

New Jersey's 75th anniversary commemorative Kristallnacht Concert is sponsored by New Jersey's Commission on Holocaust Education, Seton Hall University's Building Bridges: Sixty Years of Jewish-Christian Dialogue and The Sister Rose Thering Fund for Education in Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall,

The Kristallnacht Concert begins at 3PM and is free and open to the public.

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