Nov 15 at Merkin Hall: Canada’s Multi-Grammy-Nominated ARC Ensemble Presents Program of Musical Discoveries by Three Exiles with Deep Ties to NY

The ARC Ensemble — among Canada’s most distinguished cultural ambassadors and a multiple Grammy, JUNO, and OPUS Klassik nominee — presents a ground-breaking program of musical discoveries composed  by three exiles with significant ties to NYC. The concert takes place at 7:30 pm on November 15th at Merkin Hall, part of the Kaufman Music Center.

The composers Jerzy Fitelberg and Frederick Block fled Europe and settled in New York before World War II, Block in Washington Heights, Fitelberg a mere seven blocks north of Merkin Hall. The ARC Ensemble’s Artistic Director Simon Wynberg discovered their scores in the Special Collections of Lincoln Center’s Library for the Performing Arts. Their compelling works are complemented by an exceptional clarinet sonata by Arthur Willner, a Czech composer, who died in London, and whose archive was donated to NYC’s Leo Baeck Institute by his son.

The ARC Ensemble has dedicated over two decades to reviving the music of the mainly Jewish composers whose lives and careers were derailed and marginalized by exile during the 1930s. ARC’s concerts, broadcasts and recordings have earned rave reviews and a dedicated international following – the nine recordings in the ARC Ensemble’s “Music in Exile” series for Chandos have restored an invaluable heritage, and a growing number of hitherto unknown masterworks are now joining the repertoire.

“Hundreds of composers fled Europe,” says Wynberg, “Prior to the war, Block, Fitelberg and Willner were enjoying successful careers. While all three have their musical roots in the late 19^th century, their works are born of distinct influences and personalities.” Forced to re-establish their careers in an unfamiliar land and culture, the stresses of exile were psychologically and physically destructive; both Fitelberg and Block died in their forties, Willner bedridden for his last ten years. “The rediscovery of composers who fled Europe, the dismissal of their music and the mutation of musical history is still being unraveled,” says Wynberg.

The ARC Ensemble’s program features Fitelberg’s String Quartet no. 2 and Serenade for Viola and Piano, Block’s Piano Trio no. 2, op. 26 and Piano Quintet, op. 19, and Willner’s Clarinet Sonata, op. 107.

The ARC Ensemble comprises the senior faculty of The Royal Conservatory of Music’s acclaimed Glenn Gould School: Erika Raum and Marie Bérard, violins; Steven Dann, viola; Tom Wiebe, cello; Joaquin Valdepeñas, clarinet and  Kevin Ahfat, piano.

The ARC Ensemble’s concert is presented by Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music in partnership with Holocaust Music Lost & Found, a New York-based organization that fosters the discovery, study and performance of composers whose lives and careers were upended or destroyed by Hitler’s Reich.

Purchase tickets:   https://tickets.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/6153/6154