Spirit survives

James Simon, Pavel Haas and Erwin Schulhoff were all imprisoned in the small Czech town of Terezín.

Szymon Laks was held in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The oppression of World War II and the Holocaust could not silence their music.

Their spirit will be shared at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday when Galit Gertsenzon, George Wolf and David Rezits perform “Forbidden Music: Compositions by Imprisoned or Banned Composers during the Holocaust” at Arts Place in Portland.

“It’s a testimony, in part. It’s a commemoration,” said Gertsenzon, an adjunct instructor at Ball State University. “It brings us the music of people who, if they hadn’t died in those circumstances, the sound of music in the 20th century could be different than what it is. … For me, it’s important to commemorate their lives through music and it’s important for me to share this beauty.

“If there is a mission for me in this life, professionally, it’s to have as many people know about this music and appreciate how beautiful it is.”

Gertsenzon is a pianist who has performed all over the world, including in Israel, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic. She holds a doctorate of musical arts in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.

Wolfe is a saxophonist and professor emeritus at BSU who was the former director of the college’s Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. Rezits, a cellist, has performed with Fort Wayne Philharmonic since 1991.

Wednesday’s concert serves as a way to connect to the past.

“The collaboration with George and David has been something that has been built over the years,” said Gertsenzon, who has performed at Carnegie Hall. “And it just got to the point where we have accumulated so much music that we played together that we thought that would be a nice introduction of a time in history through those musical pieces.”

The concert — tickets are available at Arts Place, 131 E. Walnut St., Portland, by phone at (260) 726-4809 or online at myartsplace.org. — will include Schulhoff’s “Hot Sonate: I,” Simon’s “Ceremonial Order on February 3rd, 1940,” Laks’ Allegro Energico and Haas’ “Suite for Oboe and Piano Op.17: Moderato.”

Gertsenzon is also working on several solo pieces for the performance.

And Rezits and Gertsenzon will collaborate on Ernest Bloch’s “Prayer,” which they felt would be a benefit to the audience. Bloch wrote the piece “to capture the complex, ardent Jewish spirit and soul.”

Terezín, where most of the composers featured crossed paths, was a ghetto and concentration camp. Like at many other such camps, prisoners created and performed a wide variety of music.

“Inside these walls, there was a lot of music making and art,” said Gertsenzon. “They all tried experimenting with musical styles. … It’s just a combination of so many styles, like jazz, like Polish music, like Post-romantic music.”

Of the World War II era composers whose music will be featured Wednesday, only Laks survived the war. He was on a death march in spring 1945 when American soldiers arrived.

He moved to France and lived there until his death in Paris in 1983.

Simon and Haas were both killed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Schulhoff died of tuberculosis in Wülzburg prison near Weissenburg, Germany.

Their music — “… it reflects a triumphant artistic spirit and firm resistant posture against ethnic hate and genocide,” wrote Gertsenzon in a 2021 essay — lives on through performances like the concert scheduled for Wednesday.

“What it tells us is that people can ban the activities of other humans,” said Gertsenzon, who noted that those who enjoy the show can see an expanded version of the concert that will also include oboist Lisa Kozenko and vocalist Cynthia Smith scheduled for 7:30 p.m. March 29 at Ball State’s Sursa Hall.

“Humans can create geographical borders. Music doesn’t have borders. Human expression cannot be stopped. Music has this way to get out to people, even when others try to stop it.”

She referenced the Soviet Union, modern-day North Korea and countries that tried to ban rap and hip-hop in addition to the Nazi regime.

“Music, when it’s good and when it's sincere, it spreads throughout the world,” she added. “No matter how governments or individual leaders try to ban, cancel, it finds its way.”