“Emigré”: European premiere & PBS TV premiere

(October 2024) — In 1938, Shanghai was one of the few places offering refuge to Jews from Nazi Germany. Their oft-forgotten story has found new life in Emigré (2023), an oratorio by Emmy-winning American composer Aaron Zigman, with lyrics by Pulitzer-winning librettist Mark Campbell and additional lyrics by lyricist Brock Walsh. A binational co-commission of the New York Philharmonic and the Shanghai Symphony – and its conductor, Long Yu – the 90-minute work was hailed at its world and U.S. premieres as “a clear winner” (Interlude, Hong Kong) that could “help repair U.S.-China relations” (Time magazine). Now the story comes full circle when Emigré receives its European premiere in the German capital. Featuring the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Berlin Radio Choir, and most of the original cast under Long Yu’s leadership (Nov 3), the performance will follow a chamber concert and lecture at the Jewish Museum Berlin, both devoted to “Music from Jewish Exile in Shanghai” (Oct 31). For audiences outside Germany, meanwhile, a film of Emigré’s U.S. premiere, featuring the New York Philharmonic in a semi-staged production by Mary Birnbaum, is set to premiere as part of PBS TV’s “Great Performances” series this fall (Oct 25 at 9pm ET; check local listings), and a recording of its world premiere in Shanghai is available now from Deutsche Grammophon. This has been nominated by Opus Klassik for “2024 World Premiere Recording of the Year,” and, in its five-star album review, BBC Music magazine calls Emigré “a gorgeous two-part oratorio” with “the emotional power only achievable with such orchestral and choral forces. Impressive.”

About Émigré

Since the mid-19th century, Shanghai served as a haven for Jews escaping persecution in Europe. Even while under Japanese occupation and still reeling from the atrocities of the Nanjing Massacre, the great Chinese port nonetheless opened its doors to the many Jews seeking refuge during World War II. Emigré tells the story of two such refugees, German Jewish brothers Otto and Josef Bader, who arrive by boat in Shanghai. There they both find love: Otto within the city’s Jewish community and Josef with the daughter of a Chinese herbalist. The patriarchs of both local communities are initially opposed to this cross-cultural pairing but, when tragedy strikes, they come together in their grief and their shared belief in a better future. As Zigman told The New York Times, “Our project is really about bridging cultures and humanity and love, hope, loss and tragedy.” To tell his story, the composer drew inspiration from his classical roots and other sources. Collaborating with librettists Campbell and Walsh, he also incorporated a variety of other musical styles, including Buddhist, Jewish, and Christian prayers. After Émigré’s U.S. premiere earlier this year, NPR described the oratorio as “lush and very cinematic,” and The New York Times found it “hard to imagine a more polished, affectionate performance than the one led on Thursday by the conductor Long Yu.”

European premiere of Émigré in Berlin (Nov 3)

As in Shanghai and New York, the oratorio’s European premiere will star tenor Matthew White, grand prize winner at both the Gerda Lissner and Deborah Voigt International Vocal Competitions, as rabbinical student Otto. White sings opposite Janai Brugger, known for her “supple, beautifully shaded lyric soprano” (Opera News), in her role debut as yeshiva volunteer Tovah. Arnold Livingston Geis reprises the role of young doctor Josef, to which he “brought a full-bodied lyric tenor (Observer) in New York, with soprano Guanqun Yu lending her “incredibly melodic and harmonic voice” (Klassik-begeistert, Germany) to Lina Song, the woman he loves. Also reprising their roles from New York, Shanghai-born mezzo-soprano Huiling Zhu portrays Lina’s sister, Li Song, to which she “brought vocal warmth and an observer’s perspective to the drama” (New York Classical Review), with bass-baritone Shenyang showcasing his “surprisingly light touch and an expressive tone” (Observer) as their father, herbalist Wei Song. As in New York, the cast of principals will be completed by bass-baritone Andrew Dwan, lending his “startlingly room-filling, resonant voice” (Observer) to the role of the boys’ uncle, rabbi Yaakov.

“Music from Jewish Exile in Shanghai” in Berlin (Oct 31)

To help contextualize the Émigré story, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin presents two events exploring “Music from Jewish Exile in Shanghai” at the Jewish Museum Berlin. First, a chamber concert juxtaposes Zigman’s String Quartet with works by German-Jewish composers Wolfgang Fraenkel and Otto Joachim, both of whom escaped to Shanghai during World War II; Russian-born Jewish composer Aaron Avshalomov, who moved there after the Russian Revolution; Jewish Austro-Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff, who died in a Nazi prison camp; Chinese composer Ding Shande, the founding director of the Shanghai Music Centre and grandfather of conductor Long Yu; and Chinese songwriter Gexin Chen, whose hit song “Rose, rose, I love you” was a favorite among Shanghai’s Jewish refugees. After the concert, there will be a lecture about Jewish musicians in Shanghai from University of Hamburg musicologist Dr. Sophie Fetthauer, who has published widely on the subject, with support from Zigman and museum program director Dr. Daniel Wildmann.

Émigré recording on DG

This past June, Deutsche Grammophon released its recording of Emigré’s world premiere presentation in Shanghai. Featuring the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Lanzhou Concert Hall Choir, and members of the New York Philharmonic, the double album was warmly received by the international press. Émigré “delivers warmth, light,” declared Canada’s Global Times. Praising Zigman’s “highly listenable score,” the UK’s Financial Times found that “the premiere rose to the challenge.” After admiring the “strong cast of seven singers,” Hong Kong’s Interlude pronounced Émigré “the most ambitious undertaking to address the Hebraic legacy left by Shanghai,” and predicted that it would prove “the most popular one.” Welcoming the oratorio as “a poignant musical work,” the Beijing Times concluded: “Émigré stands as a powerful symbol of cross-cultural collaboration, highlighting the universal language of music in bridging diverse communities and histories.” For orders, downloads, streaming, and information, click here.

The Six Triple Eight in theaters and on Netflix

Zigman’s other current projects include his original score for The Six Triple Eight (2024), a new World War II drama from director Tyler Perry about the U.S. Women’s Army Corps’ all-Black battalion. Starring Kerry Washington, the film features Diane Warren’s hit song “The Journey,” of which Zigman’s score includes his own orchestral arrangement. The Six Triple Eight is scheduled for theatrical release on December 6 and will be available for streaming on Netflix from December 20. Click here to see the trailer for The Six Triple Eight.

About Aaron Zigman

American composer Aaron Zigman is a master of multiple genres. An American Prize in Orchestral Composition winner whose concert music is championed by leading artists and orchestras worldwide, he is also a stalwart of popular song and one of today’s preeminent film and television composers, whose honors include an Emmy Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Tango Manos.

Zigman’s concert output encompasses operatic, orchestral, chamber, and vocal music. Before receiving its European premiere from the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in fall 2024, his major new oratorio, Émigré, received its world and U.S. premieres in the 2023-24 season from the co-commissioning Shanghai Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic respectively, with a Chinese and American cast led by conductor Long Yu. Set to a libretto by Mark Campbell, with additional lyrics by Brock Walsh, the 90-minute work tells the story of Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai to escape the Holocaust.

As a longtime devotee of the tango, Zigman pays tribute to the Argentinean form in his award-winning piano concerto, Tango Manos (2019), a co-commission of the Beijing Music Festival, Radio France, and the San Francisco Symphony. The concerto’s critically acclaimed world and U.S. premiere performances featured its dedicatee, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, with the China Philharmonic under Long Yu and the San Francisco Symphony under Fabien Gabel.

Alisa Weilerstein and Inon Barnatan premiered Zigman’s Rhapsody for cello and piano at California’s La Jolla Music Society in 2021. The composer’s earlier chamber works include No Strings Attached (2007), a sextet for French horn player Brian O’Connor; Vis Vitae (2006) for mixed octet, as featured at the third annual Beverly Hills International Music Festival; and Impressions (2004), a suite for wind ensemble that was premiered by French horn player Richard Todd and members of the USC Symphony Orchestra. Zigman’s vocal works include a setting of Shir L’Shalom, two Ave Maria vocalises, and La Donna in Viola for soprano soloists and chorus, which is set to an Italian translation of a poem by American feminist playwright Ntozake Shange.

Zigman has firmly established himself as one of Hollywood’s go-to composers. His film career launched in 2000, when director Nick Cassavetes heard a performance of Rabin by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony. Zigman and Cassavetes went on to collaborate on six films, including the romantic cult classic The Notebook, for which the composer’s score sold a record number of albums. Working with top studios and directors, he has scored more than 60 Hollywood motion pictures to date, including such substantial box-office hits as Bridge to Terabithia, The Proposal, For Colored Girls, The Company Men, Wakefield, and the Sex and the City franchise. Similarly distinguished in television, he has penned songs for shows including the popular series Fame and the Showtime TV movie Crown Heights, for which his setting of the Hebrew peace prayer “Sim Shalom” received an Emmy Award. He recently scored American Dream/American Knightmare, Antoine Fuqua’s acclaimed Suge Knight documentary for Showtime, and is currently working on the music for Truth & Conviction, a new four-part limited series from Kaleidoscope Pictures.

It was as a studio pianist and in popular song that Zigman began his career. A student of renowned MGM composer and orchestrator George Bassman, he signed a song-writing contract with music publishing giant Almo Irving while still in college. Subsequently working for industry legend Clive Davis, Zigman went on to write, arrange, and produce more than 50 hit albums for some of the world’s foremost performing and recording artists, including Christina Aguilera, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Phil Collins, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, John Legend, Seal, Carly Simon, Sting, the Four Tops, Tina Turner, and Dionne Warwick.

Zigman has accrued numerous honors, including the 2005 Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song, two International Film Music Critics’ Award nominations, and twelve BMI Film & TV Awards. His Tango Manos concerto was a top prize-winner at the 2021 American Prize in Orchestral Composition.

European premiere of Aaron Zigman’s Emigré:

Nov 3
Berlin, Germany
Berlin Philharmonie
Aaron ZIGMAN (lyrics: Mark Campbell, with Brock Walsh): Émigré (European premiere)
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Berlin Radio Choir
Conductor: Long Yu
Otto Bader: Matthew White, tenor
Josef Bader: Arnold Livingston Geis, tenor
Li Song: Huiling Zhu, mezzo-soprano
Lina Song: Guanqun Yu, soprano
Wei Song: Shenyang, bass-baritone
Tovah Odesska: Janai Brugger, soprano
Yaakov Bader: Andrew Dwan, bass-baritone

For tickets and information, click here.

Supplementary events:

Oct 31
Berlin, Germany
Jewish Museum Berlin

   Chamber concert: “Music from Jewish Exile in Shanghai”
Olga Polonsky & Lauriane Vernhes, violins; Francesca Zappa, viola; Claudia Benker-Schreiber, cello
With DSO Ensemble
Erwin SCHULHOFF: Five Pieces for String Quartet
Aaron ZIGMAN: String Quartet
Wolfgang FRAENKEL: Music for String Quartet
Otto JOACHIM: String Quartet
Aaron AVSHALOMOV: The K’e Still Ripples to its Banks
Gexin CHEN, arr. Otto Joachim: Rose, rose, I love you
Ding SHANDE: Movement from the String Quartet in E minor

   Lecture (in English): “Music from Jewish Exile in Shanghai”
Dr. Sophie Fetthauer, with Aaron Zigman & Dr. Daniel Wildmann

For tickets and information, click here.