Photo Courtesy of Anne Matlack
The Harmonium Choral Society performs ‘Annelies’ at Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange on Nov. 8.
By Shanee Frazier, Staff Writer
SOUTH ORANGE — he universal power of music brought together an entire community Saturday night at Oheb Shalom Congregation in South Orange to celebrate life and love as the Harmonium Choral Society performed “Annelies.”
“Annelies” is a cantata based on “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” and features a chorus accompanied by piano, violin, cello and clarinet.
The concert was underwritten by the Jonah Solkoff Eskin Memorial Fund, which is administered by the Eskin family at Oheb Shalom in honor of their son Jonah, who died by suicide in 1994.
The concert was free of charge to those who registered in advance, and a nominal fee was requested at the door for those who were not registered.
In an interview with the News-Record, longtime Oheb Shalom member Marcia Eskin explained how the family came to bring this concert to their synagogue.
“Cantor (Erica) Lippitz and I were talking, and she mentioned that I might want to do something to commemorate the 20th anniversary of when I lost my son Jonah,” Eskin said.
Eskin had attended the Harmonium Choral Society’s concert back in March of this year that focused on “Annelies” and she recalled how much the music moved her.
“It was haunting and it was beautiful,” Eskin said. “Immediately in thinking about honoring Jonah’s memory this program connected very strongly for me.”
Eskin also noted that the Oheb Shalom concert was held on the anniversary of the eve of Kristallnacht, when the Nazis orchestrated a heinous pogrom of anti-Jewish violence throughout Germany. More than 1,000 synagogues were burned and more than 7,000 Jewish-owned businesses were savagely vandalized on the evening of Nov. 9 and the morning of Nov. 10, 1938, during what has become known as the Night of Broken Glass.
Eskin said she saw many parallels between her son and Anne Frank that convinced her even more of the suitability of honoring his memory through this concert.
“Like Anne Frank, my son was also 15 when he died, and I saw a lot of similarities in the way that they saw the world and their sensibilities,” Eskin said.
“My son loved music and played the oboe, as well as piano and clarinet,” Eskin told the News-Record. “And he was a reader and a writer, just like Anne Frank.”
Eskin said that her son was a “voracious reader” and an avid supporter of libraries because they leveled the playing field, making books available to everyone regardless of economic status.
“Like Anne Frank, Jonah shared deep concerns about the world around him; they each cared deeply about friends and family; each appreciated and found comfort in the beauty of nature. Both will be forever 15,” Eskin said.
Eskin also introduced the concert, emphasizing that the piece speaks to the horrors Anne Frank experienced, and acknowledging the parallel between Holocaust survivors and survivors of suicide loss.
“You carry it for the rest of your life, and even generations after you are affected by what your family members lived through. It carries over and there is no point where it fades away,” she said.
Anne Matlack, artistic director for Harmonium, also feels very strongly about the history and context of “Annelies” and what it means for generations of people.
In an interview with the News-Record, Matlack said that this performance was a special collaboration with Oheb Shalom Congregation that held significance for many reasons.
“For many of our choral members, this piece was deeply personal,” Matlack said. “Many of them have family members who are Holocaust survivors and the images and lyrics are that much more real to them.”
Matlack said the 100-member choir contains singers ranging in age from 15 to 80 and includes people from all walks of life, including many elementary school and music teachers.
“‘Annelies’ is performed with a slideshow that illustrates the lyrics,” Matlack said. “It adds a very powerful element to the concert and rather than detracting from the music, it helps the audience stay very focused.”
For Matlack, “Annelies” is more than a concert. It is a way to reach people.
“This is more of an experience than a concert,” Matlack said. “I wanted to make it personal because for many it’s just a chapter in a history book, and it’s so much more than that. These are the experiences of your neighbors or a friend’s grandmother.”