News: West Hollywood Yom Hashoa Remembrance to Honor Holocaust Victims
West Hollywood Yom Hashoa Remembrance to Honor Holocaust Victims
The City of West Hollywood, in collaboration with Congregation Koi Ami, will sponsor Yom Hashoa, a special Holocaust remembrance on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 4 p.m. in Fiesta Hall at Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. The event will commemorate those who perished during the Holocaust and will recognize people throughout the world who have faced hate and violence. The program will include a music theatre and multimedia performance with the premieres of "Through Children's Eyes" and "Through My Mother's Eyes." After the program, a candlelight ceremony will take place at the Babi Yar Memorial (a memorial in memory of those who lost their lives during World War II at Babi Yar, a ravine located new Kiev, the capital of Ukraine) in Plummer Park. A reception will immediately follow in Fiesta Hall.
"Through Children's Eyes," gives a view of the Holocaust as seen through the expressions of the children who were interned in the camps. Though most of these children perished as a result of the Holocaust, their experiences, feelings and passions live on in the poetry and drawings they left behind. Selections of the surviving poetry and drawings will be utilized in the performance "Through Children's Eyes." The accompanying music to "Through Children's Eyes" was adapted and commissioned by Cantor Mark Saltzman from David Shukiar, an award-winning composer, especially for the City's Yom Hashoa commemoration. It will be performed by Cantor Mark Saltzman; Cantor Ida Rae Cahana; Rachel Smith-Weinstein, soprano; Lisa Edwards, pianist; John Redfield, cellist; and Gary Gould, clarinetist.
"Through My Mother's Eyes," is a personal memoire by the world renowned artist Alice Lok Cahana, a survivor of Auschwitz and mother-in-law of Cantor Ida Rae Cahana. This dramatic performance incorporates the paintings of Mrs. Cahana, Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian music of the period,and will be performed by Cantor Ida Rae Cahana, actress Gretchen Johnson, pianist Lisa Sylvester and Gary Gould.
For more information, regarding the Yom Hashoa Remembrance, please contact Liz Tran at (323) 848-6307.