Honoring Refugee Composers

Crossing Borders Music honors refugees around the world in this performance of music written by or about refugees! The program includes the “Refugees Anthem” by the composer Arian, who is a Syrian refugee currently living in China. Also presented will be string quartet arrangements of the beautiful Al Ayloughs and Shogher Jan by the famous Armenian composer Komitas, followed by Armenian composer Tatev Amiryan’s “Tristesse,” a homage to Komitas. In Amiryan’s piece she expresses Komitas’ pain and sorrow as the Armenian Genocide forced him from his home and caused him to suffer a mental breakdown as he lived in exile for the rest of his life. The program will also Ruth Schonthal’s String Quartet “In Memoriam Holocaust.” As an American Holocaust refugee, Schonthal spent much of her life avoiding writing music about the Holocaust so as not to trivialize it. Late in her life, she finally decided to write this piece to encourage its remembrance and memorialize its victims. Zvonimir Nagy’s exquisite “Fall, Leaves, Fall” and Miguel del Aguila’s exciting Presto II round out an intensely stirring program.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.