Anne Frank Panel Discussion and Community School Presentations

On Friday, March 3rd, the IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater presents the world premiere of the opera Anne Frank by Shulamit Ran and Charles Kondek. In anticipation of the event, the Jacobs School of Music has collaborated with the Eskenazi Museum of Art and the Borns Jewish Studies Program to present a series of performances, panel discussions, and gallery talks contextualizing the work and its subjects.

This Thursday, March 2, the Jacobs School will present “An Exploration of the Opera Anne Frank: Panel and Conversation with the Composer & Artists.” The first part, hosted by Professor Halina Goldberg, includes a reading of selections from The Diary of Anne Frank by writer and producer Betsy Borns and two talks – “Anne Frank’s Holland” by Diane L. Wolf (UC Davis) and “Shulamit Ran’s Musical Language: An Introduction to Anne Frank” by Orit Hilewicz (IU Music Theory). For the second half, Judah Cohen will moderate a discussion with composer Shulamit Ran, conductor Arthur Fagen, stage director Crystal Manich, and Jacobs School DM student, Anne Slovin, who is singing the role of Anne in the opera.

Alongside the IU event series, musicology Ph.D. candidates Sarah McDonie and Nicolette van den Bogerd, with members of the Anne Frank cast, have been presenting the opera and sharing its historical connections at local schools in Bloomington, including The Project School, Bachelor Middle School, Bloomington High School North, and the St. Charles School. In addition to their outreach work, McDonie prepared both the program notes and synopsis for the IU Opera Theater program book and van den Bogerd will present the pre-show “Opera Insights” to audience members at 6:30 pm on the MAC Mezzanine (and via IUMusicLive! the first weekend) before each performance.

It has been a privilege for the department to work so closely with the Bloomington community, as well as with the cast and creators of the production, and associated IU programs and institutions.

For more information and a full list of events, please visit:
https://music.indiana.edu/news-events/anne-frank/index.html