Remembering the Holocaust: A Portfolio of Compositions Exploring Jewish History, Memory and Culture

This PhD submission comprises a portfolio of four original compositions composed between 2020 and 2024, with a total duration of approximately 90-minutes, accompanied by a commentary of approximately 10,000 words. It explores the composer’s perspective as a second-generation Holocaust survivor by blending Jewish musical and symbolic elements within a Western classical idiom. The central work of the portfolio is 'Holocaust - Remembrance', a 60-minute work in six movements for orchestra (incorporating shofarot, castanets, timpani, quad toms and bass drum) and SATB chorus, composed as a musical monument to metaphorically stand alongside the Holocaust Memorial Monument erected at the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Paramaribo, Suriname. Movement IV is a setting of Primo Levi’s poem 'Shema' (1946). The portfolio also includes 'The Wanderer' (10-minutes, for string quartet), 'Resistance' (8-minutes, for percussion ensemble and two violins) and 'A Prayer for Peace' (12-minutes, for solo viola). The accompanying commentary provides context for and explanation of the composer’s use of specific elements, including the shofar, the Sephardic Jewish scale, the Ashkenazi 'Ahavoh-Rabboh' mode, Sephardic rhythms and palindromic structures. The overarching mission of the PhD is to create awareness of and to educate audiences about the Holocaust and anti-Semitism (Jew-hatred). As far as is known, it represents the first body of such work by a composer of Surinamese Jewish descent, and further addresses a gap in the repertoire through the aim to integrate materials from Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions.