SUONO DI SHOFAR A AUSCHWITZ

Sound of the *Shofar at Auschwitz

for Chorus and Orchestra

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 musical project

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Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, through the realization of an unpublished musical work for Chorus and Orchestra, entitled "Suono di Shofar a Auschwitz" (Sound of the Shofar at Auschwitz), literary text by Noemi Vogelmann, music by Giancarlo Galtieri.

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Acting as composer, I'm honored to propose the actualization of a project that sees the convergence of different cultural and religious objectives.

Following long reflections and soul-searching questions raised by the viewing of historical documentaries as well as from my readings regarding the Holocaust, I have developed and nurtured the idea of composing a musical work on the subject matter.  My desire is to pay homage to those who tragically lost their lives in the Nazi concentration camps, with the intention of uniting, through remembrance, individuals of different cultures and religions through the universal language of music.  The idea that myself, a composer of the Christian faith, could put into music the poetic text of a Jewish author, takes us back to the bridge of relations between various nations and religions, with the mark of Ecumenism, brought tangibly into being by Pope Giovanni Paolo II.

It was in this manner of thinking that a related composition came to fruition.  It is of medium length, around 30 minutes, but deeply intense so that the emotional involvement of the listener could result in profound and complete reflection of all that happened and that which must never be repeated.  Through means of great effort to make contacts in the Jewish community, I had the wonderful fortune to meet and spend time with Professor Noemi Vogelmann Goldfield of Tel Aviv.  She's a writer and poet, but also a teacher about the thoughts and philosophy of the Jewish people.  During a trip to Polonia in 1983, Professor Vogelmann visited the concentration camp of Birkenau.  Looking around her with her heart tormented, on a piece of paper she wrote her grief.  This would then become the poem  Sound of the Shofar at Auschwitz.  Members of her family perished there.  The text of that poem became the pillar of and conduit for my musical composition. 

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  (*)  A Shofar is an ancient musical horn made from a ram's horn, used for Jewish religious purposes.

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