‘The music is emotionally intense.’ Summer Singers rise to challenge of this cantata
Some musical experiences are unforgettable — and meant to be experienced again.
That’s the case with “Holocaust Cantata.”
Jennifer Lahasky is music director and conductor of the Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit. Donald McCullough’s cantata is among the pieces Lahasky will conduct in concerts scheduled for July 30 and 31 in Lee’s Summit.
This isn’t Lahasky’s the first experience with the cantata. She sang it as a college singer at Washburn University in Topeka.
“I have never forgotten this music and how tragically captivating it was to sing,” Lahasky said.
The piece came to mind when she was brainstorming this year’s concert programming.
“But admittedly I was hesitant to commit to it,” Lahasky said. “The music is emotionally intense and technically challenging. It is not a familiar work of music, so there was an inherent risk in its programming.”
Lahasky said the cantata has no cohesive plot or narrative. Each song and story represent a different person, place and time in the Holocaust experience, Lahasky said. Some stories, she added, center around how music powerfully nourished those who endured unimaginable deprivation.
“A traditional Western classical masterwork would have been much safer,” she said.
Lahasky was encouraged to perform the piece by Bill Baker, director of the William Baker Choral Foundation, and his wife, Laura. The Lee’s Summit Summer Singers is among the foundation’s choruses.
Baker said McCullough’s work is deeply moving.
“The texts of the work are painful and forthright, considered one of the most vivid musical descriptions of the Holocaust experience,” he said.
As the piece was being considered, the foundation received 50 free scores of it. That was a sign to do it, Lahasky said.
Before the cantata, the chorus, along with soprano soloist Megan Moore, will sing “Kaddish in Memory of the Six Million” by Amy Thropp. The composer will be in Lee’s Summit to direct the work. Thropp is a conductor and musicologist; retired music director for Congregation Beth Shalom in Dunwoody, Georgia; and director of the Choral Foundation’s Zimria Festivale Atlanta chorus dedicated to Jewish composers and culture.
The concerts will conclude with Kim André Arnesen’s a cappella piece, “Even When He is Silent.”
“Both pieces share the themes of hope and resilience present in the Cantata, and complement the major work in their style and message,” Lahasky said.
Shelly Cline, historian and director of education at the Midwest Holocaust Education Center, will speak about the role of music during the Holocaust in the camps during an educational pre-concert talk.
Each concert will be followed by a reception in the St. Paul Art Gallery. Artwork created by students of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Overland Park on Holocaust themes will be displayed for the reception.
The Lee’s Summit Singers will perform their concert at 4 p.m. July 30 and 7:30 p.m. July 31 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 416 S.E. Grand Ave., Lee’s Summit. The cost is $25. For more information, go here.
