It has been now 15 years since I performed Bruch’s Kol Nidre at the Vatican for a concert commemorating the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust . The memory continues to vibrate my soul and I think of these ten minutes of music in my career and life as a seminal to my personality growth as an artist and man.
With Gilbert Levine conducting, the Philharmonia of London was brought to Rome especially for this event. Levine spent years working in Poland where he met John Paul II and started talking with him about a possible event that would be meaningful for both Christians and Jews with the theme of a memorial for the Jews who died in the war. At that time, the Pope-to-be confessed having had school friends who were taken away and never seen of again, making the time very alive and real in this holy man’s psyche.
Songs My Father Taught Me
I’m in Moscow right now as a judge for the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition but I wanted to post a note letting everyone know that today at 4:00pm Central Time, 98.7 WFMT is going to broadcast Song My Father Taught Me, which I’ve been recording with them for the past year. The program looks back …