After 42 year wait, the World Premier of a 35 minute Cantata, written by a refugee who fled the Nazis, takes place in Bradford next week.
Born into a Jewish family in Berlin in 1926, Rudi Leavor escaped Nazi Germany with his parents and sister in 1937, heading for safety in England. After settling initially in Bradford and attending thecity’s Grammar School, Rudi later studied at theUniversity of Leeds and graduated with a degree in Dentistry.
From 1975 he became Cantor, as well as President and Chairman, of the Bradford Reform Synagogue; his subsequent work to strengthen social bonds between Jewish and Muslim communities was recognised with the award of the British Empire Medal in 2017.
Despite never studying composition, in 1977 Rudi completed Enosh (‘Mankind’ or ‘Humankind’), a 35-minute cantata for mixed chorus, large orchestra and soprano soloist. The piece uses traditional Jewish melodies and texts as a choral framework. The soprano soloist’s English-language narrative and the orchestra’s interludes address themes that are far more universal, and of equally vital importance to us today as they ever have been: the yearning for freedom; the fate of the refugee; the dangers of despotism and tyranny; the search for a deeper meaning to human life.
The world premiere performances of Enosh in its original, full orchestral scoring, and celebrate with Rudi the end of a 42-year wait to hear his music in its full glory.
6th July – Bradford
9th July Leeds
‘Enosh’ includes Rudi’s highly original arrangements of several well-known synagogue choruses, including the spine-tingling eponymous setting of Psalm 103: 15-17 from the holiest of days in the Jewish calendar, Yom kippur. These choruses are woven together by a soprano soloist whose narrative reflects upon the Holocaust and its consequences; the orchestra’s interludes provide a more universal human reflection.
The performances are part of an ongoing project to preserve and rescue Jewish musical works that would otherwise fall into obscurity over time. They are a legacy of the Performing the Jewish Archive project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council – AHRC and the University of Leeds.
A video recording will be deposited with the Jewish Music & Theatre online database (https://jewishmusicandtheatre.org). So as well as being a celebration of Rudi’s achievements, ‘Enosh’ will also become part of the archive of – and testimony to – the remarkable lives of Holocaust survivors and refugees.
Grateful thanks also to the Leeds Philosophical & Literary Society and the Jewish Music Institute for additional funding.
Mankind
by RudiLeavor
A tyrant arose and smote them that they died…
Resigned to their fate, a song arose Slowly the Phoenix arose, the rebirth of a people
A cantata for soprano, chorus & orchestra, based on music of the synagogue and reflections upon the Holocaust and its consequences
Fauré – Requiem
Berlioz – The Shepherd’s Farewell
Fauré – Pavane; Cantique de Jean Racine
Airedale Symphony Orchestra
The Enosh Chorus
Conducted by Steve Muir, Rudi Leavor & Michael Colby
Soloists: Rowena Thornton (soprano) & Edward Thornton (baritone)
