Forbidden Sights and Sounds: Multimedia Concert and Gala Reception

The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education of Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion invites the Cincinnati community to experience Forbidden Sights and Sounds: Nazi Suppression of Art and Culture on Sunday, June 6 at 4 pm at the Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM). Forbidden Sights and Sounds, an original multimedia performance and reception, is the culmination of Holocaust Awareness Weeks 2004: Facing Prejudice. The program, combining music, theatrical readings, and a visual backdrop of art banned during the racist regime of Nazi Germany, is the first of its kind in the region. The collaboration between CAM, University of Cincinnati - College Conservatory of Music (CCM) and Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion's Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education developed the idea to create awareness of the destructive artistic blacklists and to inspire vigilance for protection of all people in the arts. In a highly informative program, geared to all ages, this trio of Cincinnati partners has created a unique experience that will inspire lasting thought and discussion.

Talented faculty and associates from CCM, accompanied by narration from directors of the opera, theaters, and museums, as well as other media personalities from the Greater Cincinnati region, perform Forbidden Sights and Sounds. The program features works that Nazis labeled as "Degenerate Music" by Arnold Schoenberg, Karol Rathaus, Kurt Weill, and Felix Mendelssohn, along with Jazz sounds and other surprising discoveries. Henry Meyer, Auschwitz survivor and former member of the La Salle Quartet, will make a special appearance. Meyer, recently inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame, will tell of his years as a teenage prodigy in the Jewish Kulturbund, a unique artistic island created by the banished Jewish musical talents in Germany, waiting for visas or deliverance from the Nazi oppression. Guest narrators for the event include:

· Courtis Fuller - Anchor, WLWT -TV
· Janelle Gelfand - Music Critic, Cincinnati Enquirer
· Michael Graham, S.J. - President, Xavier University
· Michael Haney - Assoc. Artistic Director, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
· Tamara Harkavy - Director, ArtWorks
· Jeff Hirsh - Correspondent, WKRC-TV
· Naomi Lewin - Radio Host, WGUC
· Douglas Lowry - Dean, UC - College Conservatory of Music
· William Menefield - Jazz Musician
· D. Lynn Meyer - Artistic Director, Ensemble Theater
· Victoria Morgan - Artistic Director, Cincinnati Ballet
· Nic Muni - Artistic Director, Cincinnati Opera
· Brian Isaac Phillips - Director, Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival
· Ed Rigaud - President and CEO, Freedom Center
· Moe Rouse - Dramatist
· Timothy Rub - Director, Cincinnati Art Museum
· John Morris Russell - Assoc. Conductor, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Faculty from Northern Kentucky University, Xavier University, and University of Cincinnati joined together to research the actions of concert halls to publishing houses, from museum corridors to art schools, from music stores to radio disc jockeys, to document the highly successful anti-Semitic campaign that targeted "non-European" influence and impact. Forbidden Sights and Sounds displays the 1938 Nazi poster of a grotesque figure to belittle Jewish, Black, and avant-garde musicians and artists that attempted to depict its "degenerate" nature. Through this one of a kind performance, the Cincinnati community recounts the cautionary tale of suppression and censorship by the Nazis.

Lynne and Robert Kanter and Cynthia and Paul Booth serve as honorary co-chairs of the event. A reception in the Grand Hall follows the concert with an opportunity to meet and greet the guest artists and performers. Tickets for the concert and reception are $20 per person, $10 for students. For more information or to purchase tickets contact the Center at 513.221.1875 ext 355. All tickets will be held at the door.

Holocaust Awareness Weeks 2004: Facing Prejudice is a collaborative community outreach effort of over thirty institutions and organizations to present the two-week community-wide, multi-cultural, interfaith Holocaust Education effort. This year's theme of Facing Prejudice exposes the uses and misuses of power that promote prejudice in today's professional world. Facing Prejudice brings programs in music, film, and art to universities, colleges, schools, libraries, and religious and secular institutions throughout the Greater Cincinnati community. The goal is to give the entire area a greater awareness of the human experiences of prejudice and confront its greater implications.

The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education is an educational and community resource center located on the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. It offers workshops, professional training seminars, graduate courses, and development of original curriculum. Teaching Holocaust Studies from academic and theological perspectives, the Center promotes tolerance and social justice in a broad range of civic and cultural concerns.