Likht Ensemble Residency
Thursday
Apr 24, 2025
1:43pm
Venue Baumann Centre
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Due to the ongoing tragedy in Israel and Palestinian Territories, as well as a disturbing rise in antisemitism here in our own community, Pacific Opera Victoria has decided to postpone Likht Ensemble’s residency for the time being. We acknowledge Wagner’s antisemitism and its presence in the Ring Cycle, however, we must put the safety of our performers first, and with credible safety concerns mounting, we no longer feel these events are currently possible.
Music is meant to uplift, but this programming centers difficult conversations around trauma at a time where the community is actively being retraumatized. We also feel it is important to provide the Jewish community a moment to grieve before reengaging in these discussions.
We look forward to having Likht Ensemble join us for concerts and conversations as soon as it is safe to do so, as their work is proving more vital than ever. We at Pacific Opera Victoria stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and with all civilian victims and peace-loving people who are suffering.
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A series of events including recital and conversations about art and artist, exploring what it means to engage with Wagner’s work as a Jewish singer or musician.
The Wesendonck Lieder, and Songs from the Ghettos of Lithuania
Wagner’s intimate songs weave an irresistible dream of love and longing, while his prose espouses a rhetoric of destruction: an ideology that helped lay the groundwork for the Third Reich. During the Holocaust, victims of this ideology recorded their own musical dreams – troubled vignettes and pangs of nostalgia – alongside turbulent evocations of spring. Is it more dangerous to dream, or to awaken?
Tickets $40 General | $15 Students
The Likht Ensemble explore Wagner’s antisemitism, its presence in the Ring Cycle, and approaches to engaging with art by immoral artists.
Tickets free, just rsvp.
The Likht Ensemble is joined by respected Jewish-Canadian art and culture journalist Marsha Lederman.
Marsha Lederman is an award-winning journalist and author. She is columnist for The Globe and Mail, where she was previously Western Arts Correspondent for 15 years. Her memoir Kiss the Red Stairs: The Holocaust, Once Removed was published by McClelland & Stewart in 2022 and was an instant national bestseller. This year, the book, which recently came out in paperback, won the Western Canada Jewish Book Award for biography or memoir, and is nominated for a Heritage Toronto Book Award. Born and raised in Toronto, Marsha now lives in Vancouver with her son. Her parents were Holocaust survivors.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/marsha-lederman/
“Pacific Opera Victoria is excited to host the Likht Ensemble as artists in Residence during our performances of Wagner’s Die Walkure. Wagner’s antisemitism is well known, and we have invited the Likht Ensemble to share music and talks in our community to contextualize Wagner’s works for our local audience. The Likht Ensemble brings into this conversation a respect and love of Wagner’s music, and as Jewish artists, have embarked on this work as a way to explore their own conflicted relationship with his music. I know these events will bring us into a larger world view of art, antisemitism, and how we can not only engage with significant works in the operatic canon with a full understanding of their history and their impact on the communities we live in today but also celebrate great music of composers we know and love, and those we need to hear.”
REBECCA HASS | Director of Engagement Programs and Partnerships
Nate Ben-Horin divides his time as a pianist and vocal coach between the US and Canada. He recently completed a 10-month residency with Opera Columbus, where he was also an adjunct professor at Capital University. He has worked widely in his native San Francisco Bay Area, including many seasons with West Edge Opera as a repetiteur, continuo harpsichordist, recitalist and choir director. He completed his education at McGill University under Michael McMahon and Stephen Hargreaves, and supplemented his training at Highlands Opera Studio, Lachine Vocal Academy and the CoOperative Program. He formerly served as a staff pianist and assistant choir director at UC Berkeley. Recent and upcoming engagements include Cruzar la Cara de la Luna with West Edge Opera, Eugene Onegin with Opera Columbus, and a recital in partnership with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra.
He is the co-founder, pianist, and composer/arranger of Likht Ensemble (likhtensemble.com), a duo dedicated to music from the Holocaust. Of his work there, reviewer Lynn Slotkin wrote, “Nate Ben- Horin is a graceful pianist, a gifted arranger of the music to best serve the song, and an attentive accompanist.”
Hailed as an “exciting dramatic soprano” (Opera Canada) and for her “command over a powerful range of expressive emotion” (The Whole Note), Jaclyn Grossman is a soprano, curator, and administrator from Toronto, Canada. She was most recently a resident artist with Pacific Opera Victoria’s Civic Engagement Artist Residency and is an alumna of the Rebanks Family Fellowship with Toronto’s Royal Conservatory. Next season, Jaclyn will make her debut as Freia in Das Rheingold with Edmonton Opera and joins the Buffalo Philharmonic as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony under JoAnn Falletta. Jaclyn recently performed the title role in Bas Sheve with the Ashkenaz Festival and covered Judith with Against the Grain Theatre’s Bluebeard’s Castle.
A proud co-founder of Likht Ensemble, Jaclyn is passionate about sharing music by Jewish composers from the Holocaust. As a Jewish dramatic soprano, she is eager to explore the intersection of the Germanic repertoire and voices silenced during the Holocaust. Likht’s ongoing recital series, the Shoah Songbook, recently saw performances with the Chattanooga Symphony and Public Libraries, Canadian Opera Company, Harold Green Jewish Theatre, and Schulich School of Music. She is an alumna of the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, Banff Opera in the 21st Century, and Sewanee Summer Music Festival. Passionate about empowering artists and fostering community, Jaclyn is the creator of the Association for Opera in Canada’s RBC Artist Fellowship and LINK Workshop Series. When not performing, Jaclyn can be found exploring as many creative avenues as humanly possible, petting dogs, and napping.
Holocaust Reading List - Background Reading for Wagner at Pacific Opera Victoria
Good Art by Bad People - Background Reading for Wagner at Pacific Opera Victoria
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