"Music and Terror in Stalinist Russia" - Symposium at Reed College in Portland, Oregon; January 20-22, 2003

[Evgenii Bershtein]

ROMP! SYMPOSIUM ON MUSIC AND TERROR IN STALINIST RUSSIA

ROMP! (Reediana Omnibus Musica Philosopha), Reed College's annual symposium on music and the liberal arts, will turn its attention on January 20-22 (schedule follows) to the relationship between the murderous Stalinist political regime and its leading artists who served that regime while creating works of great beauty, complexity, and emotional expressiveness. ROMP!, sponsored by the Roth Family Foundation, will explore this topic through film, concerts, panels, and discussions. To complement ROMP!, Chamber Music Northwest, in conjunction with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, will present a three-concert series, "Masterpieces of the Russian Underground." The ROMP! symposium discussions and film screening are free and open to the public; for information for these events, call 503/788-6651 or visit web.reed.edu/romp. Concert pricing and ticket information is available from Chamber Music Northwest at 503/294-6400 or http://www.cmnw.org/encore2003.html#20030120. 
THE SYMPOSIUM
Speakers from the fields of musicology, art history, and film studies will explore the lives and works of composers Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitry Shostakovich, pianist Sviatoslav Richter (the subject of a documentary to be screened January 22), photographer Aleksandr Rodchenko, and film directors Sergei Eisenstein and Grigory Aleksandrov. 
THE CONCERTS
The three-concert series includes works by 14 Soviet and Russian composers, under the curatorship of distinguished pianist Vladimir Feltsman, with performers David Shifrin on clarinet, Ani Kavafian and Oleh Krysa on violins, Paul Neubauer on viola, and Gary Hoffman on cello. The concert series begins with Shostakovich's immortal E Minor Piano Trio; the second night includes Soviet works in which Western methods were carefully adapted to a world that was quick to condemn experimental musical languages as decadent; and the third night includes works by composers who began their careers as Soviet composers but are now leading voices in contemporary music worldwide. 

SCHEDULE
MONDAY, JANUARY 20
CONCERT
8 p.m., Kaul Auditorium
Chamber Music Northwest presents "Russian Expressionism: Shostakovich to Schnittke," which will also include compositions by Ustvolskaya and Vainberg. 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 21
PANEL  ­  "The Composer in the Soviet State"
4:30 p.m., psychology auditorium, free
Malcolm Brown, professor emeritus of music, Indiana University, will speak on "Prokofiev's 'Sacrifice to the Bitch Goddess'"; music scholar Laurel Fay will discuss "Shostakovich and the Struggle for the Soul of Soviet Music." Respondent: David Schiff, R. P. Wollenberg Professor of Music, Reed College.  

CONCERT
8 p.m., Kaul Auditorium
Chamber Music Northwest presents "Songs of Experience and Innocence: Serialism and Post-Modern Style," including compositions by Volkonsky, Denisov, Karetnikov, Silvestrov, and Kissine. 

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22
FILM SCREENING & DISCUSSION
Film: 12:30 p.m., psychology auditorium, free
Discussion: 3 p.m., psychology auditorium, free
Screening of Bruno Monsaingeon's 1998 documentary "Richter: The Enigma" followed by a roundtable discussion on the film led by James A. van Dyke, assistant professor of art history and humanities, Reed College. Panelists include Vladimir Feltsman, curator of the "Masterpieces of the Russian Underground" concert series.

PANEL  ­  "Artistic Avant-Garde and the Totalitarian Project"
4:30 p.m., psychology auditorium, free
Erika Wolf, assistant professor of art history, University of Rochester, will speak on "Modernism's Willing Executioner: Aleksandr Rodchenko at the White Sea Canal"; Anne Nesbet, assistant professor of Slavic languages and literatures and film, University of California­Berkeley, will discuss "'The Skeleton Dance': Animation, Terror and the Musical Film of the Soviet 1930s." Respondent: Lena Lencek, professor of Russian and humanities, Reed College.  

CONCERT
8 p.m., Kaul Auditorium
Chamber Music Northwest presents "'Mirror in the Mirror': Search for Unity and Order," including compositions by Zohrabian, Karayev, Gubaidulina, Kancheli, and Pärt.

Reed College, in Portland, Oregon, is an undergraduate institution of the liberal arts and sciences dedicated to sustaining the highest intellectual standards in the country. With an enrollment of about 1,360 students, Reed ranks third in the undergraduate origins of Ph.D.s in the United States and second in the number of Rhodes scholars from a liberal arts college (31 since 1915). 

This press release may also be found at http://administration.reed.edu/news/news. taf.

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