Siwoo Kim will perform with Concordia on November 6th, 3 pm. Photo Credit: Contributed

The Degenerates, Concordia Chamber Players Explores the works of composers categorized as such by the Nazi Regime on November 6

NEWSROOM POST:  New Hope, PA

Date: Sunday, November 6, 2022 @ 3PM
Location: Trinity Church, 6587 Upper York Road, Solebury, PA
Tickets: https://concordiaplayers.org/tickets or at the door.  
Cost: $75/ticket

Concordia Chamber Players’ first regular subscription concert will be on November 6 back at Trinity Episcopal Church in Solebury. In this program, entitled The Degenerates, they will explore the works of composers categorized as such by the Nazi regime for the color of their skin or their religion. The inspired String Quartet No. 2 of Florence Price will be performed along with String Quartet No. 1 in A Major by Alexander Zemlinsky and String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat Major by Felix Mendelssohn.

Violinist Gabriela Diaz.  Photo Credit: Contributed

Violist David Samuel of the Alexander String Quartet will have his first performance with Concordia along with Gabriela Diaz and Siwoo Kim on violin, and Michelle Djokic on cello.  When artistic director, Michelle Djokic conceived of this program there was talk of book banning in certain regions of the country. She believes this music — which was nearly lost — would be a good reminder of the potential cost of intolerance to our cultural fabric. The Zemlinsky and Mendelssohn are early works and not entirely in the voice of what those composers eventually became. It’s a program that will move audience members with rarely heard before pieces.

Performing Artists:  Gabriela Diaz, violin, Siwoo Kim, violin, David Samuel, viola, Michelle Djokic, cello.  Bios can be found on the Concordia Chamber Players Website.

New Hope Arts Executive Director Carol Cruickshanks will be lecturing at the Arts Center in New Hope about this period of art known as “Degenerate” by Hitler’s Regime, including artists Picasso, Mondrian, Chagall,  among others – who did not adhere to the notions of visual art dictated by Adolf Hitler and Minister of Reich Culture, Joseph Goebbels. 

On November 5th at 3 pm, the day before the concert is a free open rehearsal and lecture by Executive Director of the New Hope Arts Center, Carol Cruickshanks will present: “The Degenerates” a brief history of art, music and literature in the 1930’s. 

Pictured above:  New Hope Arts Center’s Carol Cruickshanks, Executive Director.  Photo Credit: Contributed

About the lecture: Degenerates was a term applied by Adolf Hitler to modernism and non-classical interpretations of visual arts, music and literature. Specifically, it denotes an exhibition mounted in 1937 by the Munich Nazi Party to defame specifically German artists as well as already famous artists—Picasso, Mondrian, Chagall, Kandinsky among other – who did not adhere to the notions of visual art dictated by Adolf Hitler and Minister of Reich Culture, Joseph Goebbels.  Entartete Kunst was crafted as a propaganda exhibition that toured throughout Germany and Austria in 1937 denouncing as unacceptable – decadent, mentally diseased or racial impure art makers and images. The “disease” was more likely of the arbiters and is a telling sign of the totalitarian culture to follow. The story of Degenerate Art is a cautionary tale.

To learn more about the Concordia Chamber Players, visit ConcordiaChamberPlayers.org