top of page

Chez ShAkE

The News of the House

Search

"Schoenberg's Return" (A private Zoom event)

A Commemoration of the 88th Anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s 1933 “Re-entry into the Community of Israel”


Please join me for a short private Zoom event tomorrow, Sunday, July 25th at 8pm EST (virtual doors open at 7:45), featuring readings of texts by the great modern composer, Arnold Schoenberg, in commemoration of his “Re-entry into the Community of Israel” in July 1933. I’m also looking for a few people willing to read (text provided beforehand – no stress).


In the face of rising antisemitism in Europe, Schoenberg, having converted to Protestantism 35 years before, felt compelled not only to return to Judaism, but to make an unprecedented public announcement, with Marc Chagall as witness. Given the rising antisemitism in our time, this seems an important event to recall and for me personally to repeat, in my own secular and aesthetic way.


July 24th is the actual anniversary of Schoenberg’s action. But as it falls on a Saturday this year and my observant Jewish friends would not have been able to participate until later in the evening, the commemoration will instead be held tomorrow, Sunday July 25th. It will include perhaps 20 minutes of readings from Schoenberg’s letters, statements, and musical works, including “Moses and Aaron” and “A Survivor from Warsaw”, with some recorded musical fragments as accompaniment. We’ll also have the chance to meet each other afterwards if anyone wants to chat for 20 minutes or so.


Contact me for the Zoom link. (If you haven’t used Zoom before, it’s easy – I can give you instructions when we get in touch.) And let me know if you’d like to read!


SCHOENBERG’S RETURN is a way to honour Schoenberg’s profound gesture in the face of evil, and to create a moment of solidarity as such evil arises again.


Intimate and low-key, it’s a “Salon of ShAkE Event” under the “roof” of my production company, Michael Caplan’s House of ShAkE.


A Commemoration of the 88th Anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s 1933 “Re-entry into the Community of Israel”
Schoenberg's Return (A Zoom event)


4 views0 comments

Porch Songs Ep. 5: Last in a Month of Sundays

This is the final in a series of four Sunday afternoon country/blues/folk livestreams from the virtual Porch of Michael Caplan's House of ShAkE. And after that? I'm thinking maybe twice a month, and/or randomly when inspiration strikes, maybe even every day for a week, and definitely out in the open as the weather gets warmer, when I go to friends' actual porches for a Porch on the Road series!


It's been a great initiation to livestreaming, and I want to thank everyone who's dropped by for those Hank tunes, Johnny classics, Patsy faves, bluesy numbers, and folk songs.


I've been learning as I go, feeling more confident, and putting those vocal coaching sessions from the great Micah Barnes of Singer's Playground to good use. My fall off the little stage on the first livestream wasn't caught on cam (well, nothing was ...), the tech's getting better, and it's feeling more like a real get-together on the porch every time.


So join me on the Porch! Request list attached


Sunday, March 28, 4-5pm EDT


 


7 views0 comments
1
2
bottom of page