Missing Voices is an initiative founded in 2020 by French pianist @dimitrimalignan , aimed at promoting the works and lives of Jewish composers of Classical Music who were murdered in the Shoah, by organising concerts and conferences, recording their music, and curating exhibitions.
Committed to shedding light on the irreparable loss of these talented artists (and the hundreds more who were persecuted, deported, imprisoned, or forced into exile) and to fix a terrible oversight that surrounded them for 80 years, Dimitri Malignan intends to culturally restitute an entire pan of Jewish as well as European culture and history that has been brutally suppressed by the Nazi regime and their collaborators. These composers suffered a double penalty: their lives were taken in the most atrocious conditions and their music has been completely forgotten afterwards.
Stay tuned for important events, concerts, and recordings happening in 2025-2026!
More info on our mini-webpage (link in bio)
Find out more about how I started "Missing Voices" 6 years ago while studying at the @conservatoriumvanamsterdam and my encounter with the incredible @leo.smit.stichting
Fast forward now to being a global project, with 3 CDs recorded (and many in the way), concerts all across the World, and many meaningful works by forgotten perspectives Jewish composers restored!
Stay tuned for more in the next Episode!
🎥 Short film by @stradcopy
As May 8th marks the 81 years of the end of WWII in Europe, we commemorate Henriëtte Bosmans who survived the War to compose this beautiful "Prayer" 🕯️
You can listen to the full song and album, available digitally online! (DM me if you want the link)
We must not forget the music of these suppressed composers, otherwise it would be like giving a posthumous victory to the Nazis - who wanted to erase the lives of millions of Jews but also any trace of their history and culture.
@dimitrimalignan talking with Benjamin Edelman on @mysuncoast
A poignant and moving rendition of James Simon's Lamento, composed 6 years before his murder in Auschwitz, by @andrewbriggscello and @thisismichellelynne at the @opus16concerten and Missing Voices series in Paris.
Watch the full reel to learn more about the piece!
Soprano @lilyarbisser discusses the significant, powerful and poignant mission of performing works by Jewish composers persecuted in the Shoah on @mysuncoast in Sarasota ahead of her performance with @dimitrimalignan for Yom HaShoah 🕯️
So interesting to research the extensive archive of the @centerforjewishhistory and @leobaeckinstitute in NYC and find documents and music scores of composer James Simon (1880-1944, Auschwitz) only a couple of days before featuring him at our Paris concert!
James Simon was a Jewish-German pianist and composer born in 1880 in Berlin, in a highly assimilated and intellectual family.
He studied piano in his hometown, as well as composition with Max Bruch, and philosophy at the famous Heidelberg University. A highly talented pianist, he gave many recitals around Germany, and was considered the "Great guard of the Classical German repertoire".
He started composing more thoroughly in the 1920s, with significant success. In 1933, when the Nazis took over, he relocated to Amsterdam where he also thrived as a pianist, composer, and teacher.
When WWII started, he remained in the Netherlands, and his performances were banned soon after. He gave a last recital with violinist Alma Rosé (niece of Gustav Mahler, murdered in Auschwitz in 1944) in 1941.
James Simon was arrested in 1944 and sent to the Dutch transit camp of Westerbork, from where he was sent to Terezin. Like many other artists there, he tried to continue composing and giving lectures, but he was soon after sent to Auschwitz, where he was murdered immediately. May his memory be a blessing.
His 1938 Lamento in Yemenite Style is dedicated both to his son Martin, who had left Germany for Russia, and was killed in the Great Purges of 1937 by the Stalinist Regime, and James' sister Berta who died in British Mandatory Palestine in 1938, highlighting the tragic fates and forced exiles of Jews in Europe.
On this day of Yom HaShoah, #WeRemember the lives and works of thousands of Jewish artists murdered by the Nazis. It was a great honour from @lilyarbisser and I to get to present @missing.voices and the music of Jewish composers to @mysuncoast - utmost thanks to Benjamin Edelman for the thorough questions and the great footage!
It’s not every day that you get to bring a nearly forgotten work of music to life.
Dutch composer Dick Kattenburg finished writing the first movement of his viola sonata while in hiding from the Nazis in Utrecht in 1944 - he was arrested shortly after and taken to Auschwitz where he was murdered, at age 24.
Thank you @dimitrimalignan for bringing this work to life and giving it an audience through @missing.voices !
It’s a beautiful movement with expressive and haunting melodies - though we will never know what he intended for the rest of the piece to sound like...
#viola #deannapetre #deannapetreviola #freelancelife
@opus16concerten continues our series in PARIS 🌸🌸🌸
“Between Homelands” - the idea of leaving one place called home 🏡 and making a new home in a new place.
A theme close to our hearts. 🤍
On April 18, I’ll be joined by cellist @andrewbriggscello for a special evening featuring the Rachmaninoff Sonata (one of the most passionate works in the repertoire) alongside music by Canadian composer @edwardenman 🇨🇦 and a haunting Lament from Jewish composer James Simon.
A program close to my heart - I’d love to see you there!
Tickets and info: opus16concerten.nl
