Songs And Suppression: A Musical Journey Out Of Exile

NOTE: This event has been cancelled as of 7/21/22.

Jewish Center of the Hamptons (JCOH) presents “Songs and Suppression: A Musical Journey Out of Exile” on Sunday, July 31, at 4 p.m.

Pianist Constanze Beckmann and baritone Samuel Chan have put together an exploratory program of German art songs, contrasting and reviving the music of Jewish-German composers Walter Braunfels and Hanns Eisler. This program explores the musical and artistic language of these two composers, and how religious and ethnic persecution influenced their musical language and ideology.

“As we are exiting a pandemic, we have seen the effects of xenophobia, antisemitism, and bigotry rise in our contemporary culture due to the effects of the political sphere on society,” says Beckmann. “This program looks back on the question of ‘does history repeat itself’ and asks us how our societal awareness in today’s day and age is more important now than ever before.” Beckmann and Chan aim to educate and explore how past parallels effect modern times, and how education and understanding can eliminate ignorance and intolerance in music, society, and culture.

Beckmann, a German born pianist and curator, passionately advocates for cultural exchange and tolerance through the arts. She has received praise as “a musician with extraordinary musical taste and potential,” and “a sensitive and gifted chamber musician” from legendary conductor Kurt Sanderling and composer Claudio Abbado, respectively.

Every year since 2010, Beckmann performs recitals composed by Holocaust survivors as part of Holocaust Education Week.

Chan, named one of CBC’s Top 30 Canadian Classical Musicians under 30, has been praised by critics and classical music publication Ludwig van Toronto as a “naturally produced, forwardly placed, attractive baritone,” establishing himself as a versatile young artist to watch internationally.

Tickets to Jewish Center of the Hamptons’ (JCOH) presentation of “Songs and Suppression: A Musical Journey Out of Exile” are $54 ($36 for members) at jcoh.org/songs. Jewish Center of the Hamptons is at 44 Woods Lane in East Hampton.