A unique concept that, through the story of two Jewish jazz musicians, slides and archival footage, highlights the paradox between the joyful music of the 1920s (played in the Theresienstadt concentration camp) and the desolation of the Shoah. JAZZ & SHOAH - music as an act of resistance
A concert that is a journey through the lives of Jewish jazz musicians, allowing for a light-hearted approach t
o such a traumatic subject. WHAT TO EXPECT
A unique concept that, through the story of two Jewish jazz musicians, slides and archival footage, highlights the paradox between the joyful music of the 1920s (played in the Theresienstadt concentration camp) and the desolation of the Shoah. INSTRUMENTS ON STAGE
Two voices, Violin, Saxophone, Trombone, Guitar, Piano, Double bass, Drums
ARTISTIC DIRECTION
The "Jazz and the Shoah" orchestra is led by saxophonist Angelo Gregorio and accompanied by talented young musicians trained at the Brussels Conservatory. THE PROJECT IN DETAIL
Jazz and the Shoah presents a concert that is a journey through the lives of Jewish jazz musicians, allowing for a light-hearted approach to such a traumatic subject. Trombone, guitar, double bass, drums, saxophone, violin, piano... People start to move. The music is lively and light, life is beautiful. It was the Roaring Twenties, jazz from the United States was all the rage in the nights of Paris, Berlin and Rome. The orchestra of "Jazz and the Shoah" is led by saxophonist Angelo Gregorio and accompanied by talented young musicians trained at the Brussels Conservatory. All of these iconic musical standards were once played by an orchestra that the Nazis recreated in the Theresienstadt ghetto camp, a propaganda camp that was also the antechamber to the "final solution". The great names of Hungarian, German and Polish Jewish culture were deported there and among them, 15 jazz musicians formed the "Ghetto Swingers". The creator of the project, Angelo Gregorio, has done extensive research to tell their story and to find the pieces that were probably played by these musicians who were promised freedom in exchange for their musical performance. The next day, half of them were sent to the gas chambers. This concert also means facing a shock: in front of this exhilarating music, there is extermination, and Angelo Gregorio is certain of one thing: this music played again is an awakened and reinvigorated memory. The Nazis had scratched this musical genre considering it as "degenerated" to be able to instrumentalize it and to put the world to sleep in front of the project of the "Final Solution". But this concert also wants to convey an even stronger message: the power of music. Music as an act of resistance, capable of expressing and inspiring joy in those who play it and in those who listen to it.
