The Likht Ensemble is Charting a New Course Through the Classical Canon my/maSCENA

Before they founded The Likht (ליכט, “light”) Ensemble, pianist Nate Ben-Horin and Soprano Jaclyn Grossman “had no idea there was a musical world in the Holocaust.” Since 2020, the piano-vocal duo has made it their mission to uncover and share previously lost repertoire by Jewish composers from the Holocaust.

Thus far, their work has taken a variety of forms. During the pandemic, as was the case for many performing artists, they were forced to go digital. “It’s hard to separate the beginnings of this project from the conditions of the first part of the pandemic,” recalls Ben-Horin, during which time it felt like an “artistic lifeline” to Grossman.” Ben Horin continues, “that’s why it started as a digital series.” The Shoah Songbook, the (at first) digital series that saw its first “official” live performance in partnership with the Harold Green Jewish Theatre in January 2024, has thus far consisted of four recitals, each of which has highlighted music – and experiences – from a different country.

Diving into the Archives

It goes without saying that this creative endeavour has required extensive archival research and experimentation. “This work has taught me that I can enter into research and curatorial spaces; we are constantly learning about how to effectively engage with archives, museums, and manuscript materials,” says Grossman. The pair have worked with the YIVO Archive, the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, and the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, where they were enthusiastically welcomed to work through the Peter Ury collection.

Manuscript of Ein Traum by Percy Haid

Sorting through endless boxes of manuscripts, scraps of incomplete scores and other miscellaneous items, the pair have learned that “things aren’t always as they seem, that it’s important to be open-minded and curious, ready for anything you may or may not find.” Grossman describes the process of discovering Ury’s life through boxes of water-damaged materials, for example, as “a very humbling experience.”

This archival research has led to creative, accessible programming. Thus far, recitals have included roughly 50% classical repertoire, and 50% folk and cabaret music. “A lot of the underperformed – or unperformed – repertoire is folk song. This repertoire is (…) musically more approachable (than some of the other music that was being composed at the time), and it paints the lives of everyday people in the camps and ghettos with astonishing directness,” notes Ben-Horin.

Educational Initiatives

Beyond the recording and performance recitals, though, The Likht Ensemble has upheld their mission of acting as an entry point for other musicians interested in this repertoire in numerous other ways. Their website, for instance, offers biographical information on the composers whose music they have programmed. Ben-Horin, a composer and arranger as well as a pianist, has made recordings of his arrangements available to listen to online. Grossman describes her partner’s compositional skills as “an essential part of our duo, since so much of the music is unfinished.”

“My main contribution to our programming is making arrangements,” agrees Ben-Horin. “I try not to impose too much of my personal style on the song; in other words I try to make an arrangement that the original songwriter would have enjoyed, but I also make it stylistically appropriate for a classical concert. For example, I set Ilse Weber’s German-language lullabies with purely Schubertian piano textures, whereas I gave some of our Yiddish-language pieces somewhat “elevated” Klezmer-style.”

Their educational efforts have included presentations at Vanier College’s Holocaust and Genocide Symposium, the 2023 Opera America New Works Showcase, the UJA Committee for Yiddish, and residencies with the Schulich School of Music’s Opera McGill. There, they recently workshopped a one-hour theatrical piece titled Jewish Space Lasers, which combines works by musicians killed during the Holocaust with personal monologues, arrangements of Yiddish folk songs, and oft-performed German repertoire, to explore the relationship between Jewisness and classical music.

The Likht Ensemble and Members of Opera McGill, Jewish Space Lasers Workshop

The intersection between canonical German classical music – especially the works of Richard Wagner and his contemporaries – and her own Jewish identity is something that has had Grossman reflecting for years. Recently, Grossman was referred to in concert by Cantor Charles Osborne as “the most Jewish Wagnerian since Hermann Levi.” As a dramatic soprano, she says that her “purpose and identity” were tied to Wagner – a well known antisemite – very early on in her vocal training.

Grappling with Wagner

“We know Wagner was an antisemite from his own writing, and the representation of Jewish characters in his operas,” says Grossman. And yet, he is one of her favorite composers. “When we started the Likht Ensemble,” she says, “a normal day became singing Wagner and Holocaust music.” This constant juxtaposition has moved Grossman and Ben-Horin to put their efforts towards creating spaces in which performers and audiences alike can ask questions of the classical canon.

The duo sees Wagner’s music, for instance, as an “opportunity to open a dialogue about Jewish music, representation, and antisemitism”: “to ‘cancel’ Wagner,” says Grossman, “would be to miss both a musical and social opportunity.” The pair’s love of research and curation, of performance, education, and of this repertoire, make them perfectly suited to enabling this dialogue.

Pianist Nate Ben-Horin, photo by Angela Linares

Together, they use music as a tool for conversations around Jewish identity, representation, exclusion, oppression, violence, and the world of classical music. They explore intersections between music and research, between Wagner’s philosophical ideas and Jewish concepts, and the complexities of being a classical musician in 2024. “It’s an honour to make music that’s emotionally meaningful, and really tailored to us both in terms of our personal identities and our individual artistic capabilities,” reflects Ben-Horin. “To share that very personal material with audiences, co-performers, and students, and have them connect with it too. Not everyone gets to do that in the classical world especially.”

Jaclyn Grossman, Photo by Samantha Gaetz

These topic areas have brought new audiences to the concert hall, and to operatic repertoire. Music, as usual, has acted as a tool for connection and relationship building. Through their workshops, performances, and research endeavors, Ben-Horin and Grossman have had the opportunity to forge relationships with diverse communities in Canada, and beyond. This has brought a level of meaning to their work as a duo that they might not have found on their own. The pair hopes to continue “fostering dialogue, and creating platforms between various communities so that they can provide each other with mutual support.”

This month, Edmonton Opera (EO) closes their 60th anniversary season with Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Grossman will be front and center for the production, singing the role of Freia. Next year, she will return to EO to sing an even larger role, that of Brünnhilde in his Die Walküre. Grossman acknowledges that she went through a period during which she “totally renounced” Wagner. Little did she know then that some years later she would find a way to celebrate her personal and artistic identity not in spite of his music, but alongside it.