In the framework of the “Golden Menorah Conferences” the Moshe Dayan Lodge in Nice, with the support of the Lodges of the Côte d’Azur, organised a beautiful evening in aid to disabled children, that took place at the “Theâtre de la Photographie et de l’image” in Nice on November 25th, 2009.

The theme of the evening was: Dimitri Chostakovitch, a controversial musician.

The President of the Moshe Dayan Lodge, Régine Bessis, presented the show. The Mentor of the Lodge, Avraham Vanwetter questioned Maestro Misha Katz, conductor of the 2005 Golden Menorah, and the pianist David Lévy that interpreted three preludes and fugues by Dimitri Chostakovitch.

This famous musician that lived from 1906 to 1975 was not Jewish, but his wife and children were. In the middle of the soviet anti-Semitic period, in spite of which the Party asked to use popular traditions, he wrote several works influenced by Klezmer music and Yiddish melodies. He clearly dealt with the Jewish cause in his 13th symphony titled Babi Yar, the sadly famous Women’s Ravine where thousands of Jews were killed by the Nazis.
He is most certainly a unique case in Russian art.

Report by Gilberte Jacaret