Yaniv Attar conducts the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra at Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham, Washington. Photo by Damian Vines
“Harmony from Discord is a concert series celebrating music that transcends oppression by shining a light on composers whose music has endured through the darkest of times,” says Bellingham Symphony Music Director Yaniv Attar in an interview by Alan Rhodes in Wednesday’s (3/4) Cascadia Weekly (Bellingham, WA). “I started with the goal of focusing on Jewish composers who died in the Holocaust…. [The first concert] was in 2016. We played a beautiful piece by Laszlo Weiner, a Hungarian Jewish composer who was murdered in the Holocaust, a concerto for flute, viola and piano, with principal players from the Seattle Symphony as soloists. The music is so lyrical and lush; it connects to the audience immediately…. Next season, our 45th anniversary, will be the last Harmony from Discord concert that will focus solely on Jewish composers. We will start featuring music from other minorities, works by refugees, African-American composers, women composers, and so on. The series is not just about the past…. This year, thanks to … Executive Director Gail Ridenour, we’ll [discuss] the series at the National Conference of the League of American Orchestras in Minnesota. We are very proud of this series…. This series is not depressing; it is uplifting!”
