“Voices of the Holocaust”

Reviews and Responses

The vignettes were followed by magnificently interpreted songs. An unforgettable evening: virtuosity and emotion were in unity. As “Elie Wiesel’s Cry”, the last song declares: “Cry it, shout it, proclaim it to the world. They must remember and not forget.”, so we, too, must “remember them, remember them”.
La Lozere Nouvelle, France, Sept. 2008

GRIPPING DRAMA RECEIVES STANDING OVATION
Members honored Krystal Night victims in a ceremony and concert in Malmo Synagogue yesterday. The chairman of the synagogue shared his family's story from the time in which they lived in Germany during and after Krystal Nacht. They were hit constantly by persecution due to racial laws and suffered expulsion from the community. The chairman was deeply moved as he spoke, as were all in the audience.
We then witnessed a musical drama; Voices of the Holocaust, with Martha Smith, soprano, Haakon Smith, piano and Margaretha Jägerhult, narrator. The drama was tremendous.
We were told stories, letters and diary entries as told by victims, known and unknown, with their own experiences of those black years in Europe. To this Martha Smith sang and her husband, Haakon Smith, played.
It seemed as if the enormous power of Martha Smith's voice as well as in Haakon Smith's piano came from their commitment to remembering Jewish suffering. Along with the memory of Kristallnacht and our knowledge of the terrible things that affected our relatives during that time, it was a powerful experience. The public was deeply moved, as was witnessed by standing ovations and the people’s faces and comments afterwards.
With a voice like Martha Smith’s it is not surprising that she has appeared on stages across Europe, together with her husband, HaakonSmith. Margaretha Jägerhult also has a great commitment to the Jewish people. She has participated in significant relief projects for the Jews in Russia, China and Cuba, and has put in a lot of work promoting information about the Holocaust.
Nov. 8, 2013, 75th Anniversary Krystal Nacht Memorial, Malmo Synagogue Newsletter

On Yom ha Shoa, Holocaust Memorial Concerts were presented (in the auditorium of the Jewish school and the national cathedral of Estonia) in Tallinn. The musical drama, “Voices of the Holocaust” was presented as part of the event. The concert was both thought provoking and moving with the musical presentation being of the highest quality.
Rabbi Smuel Kot,
Chief Rabbi of Estonia, 2007

The soloist and the “soul” of the presentation touched the hearts of everybody in the auditorium. Her message was convincing and moving. Peeter Vosu, Political leader and
Director, ICEJ, Estonia, 2007.

The soprano and the pianist had the leading role in the performance of the Holocaust Memorial (in Aalto Concert Hall, Helsinki) through dramatic readings and superb expressive classical song. The concert was executed with dignity and gravity, commemorating the genocide of six million Jewish lives. At the same time, the future of the Jewish people and the restoration of the state of Israel was in focus.
Ny Veg, Helsinki, Finland, Nov. 2005.

Allow me to take this opportunity to thank our special friends in Norway for their continuous support and deeds on Israel’s behalf. Your tireless efforts and the knowledge that Israel is always in your heart, give us the strength and courage to continue in our search for the peace and prosperity we so desperately seek.
Ezer Weizman, President of Israel, 1998.

I am writing to endorse the Holocaust Memorial Concert. I was present at the world premiere in New York City. . . The music is beautifully composed and the content is powerfully moving. The first performance was a great success and was followed by an enthusiastic ovation.
Dr. Hadassah Guttmann, Author, “
The Music of Paul Ben-Haim”,
Scarecrow Press, London.

The Holocaust Memorial Concert featured American soprano, Martha Smith and Norwegian pianist, Dr. Haakon Smith. Also participating in the concert were Latvian artists: Inna Raykhman, violin, Dzidra Zemberga, cello and Mark Dubrovski orating the texts of “Voices of the Holocaust” in Russian. The vignettes relating the stories of survivors from concentration camps who resettled in New York City, along with others, were poignantly related by the narrator. Coupled with multi-media projections of pictures of survivors and of the Holocaust, the performance was heart-touching and transforming. It was the highlight of the entire week of concerts and brought to reality the horrors and suffering of the Jewish people during the years of the Holocaust. The performance was highly professional with fine musical and artistic presentations on the part of all participants. The music, vignettes and projections were moving and tastefully presented as a fitting memorial to the victims of this atrocity. It was an evening which people in Riga have continued to speak about long after the event.
Rabbi Menachem Barkahan,
Director, Religious Community,
“Shamir” Riga , Latvia