Intermezzo | The Shoah Songbook
The Shoah Songbook
Jaclyn Grossman, soprano; Nathaniel Ben-Horin, piano
Works by VIKTOR ULLMANN, ILSE WEBER, EDWIN GEIST, KAREL ŠVENK, PERCY HAID, ABRAHAM BRUDNO, MARK WARSHAWSKY
(Alumni selection)
Likht (ליכט, "light") Ensemble is a piano-vocal duo comprised of soprano Jaclyn Grossman and pianist/composer Nate Ben-Horin. Our mission is to uncover and share music by Jewish composers from the Holocaust, and by doing so, reexamine our own place in the classical tradition. For more information: www.likhtensemble.com.
Nate Ben-Horin divides his time as a pianist and vocal coach between the US and Canada. A former student of Michael McMahon and Stephen Hargreaves at McGill, he recently completed a 10-month residency with Opera Columbus, where he was also an adjunct professor at Capital University. He has worked widely in his native San Francisco Bay Area, including many seasons with West Edge Opera as a repetiteur, continuo harpsichordist, recitalist and choir director, and as teaching staff at UC Berkeley. Recent and upcoming engagements include Giulio Cesare with West Edge Opera, the North American premiere of Bas Sheve with Toronto's Ashkenaz Festival, and Rigoletto with Opera Columbus, and a recital in partnership with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra. Of his work in the Shoah Songbook, reviewer Lynn Slotkin wrote: "Nate Ben-Horin is a graceful pianist, a gifted arranger, and an attentive accompanist.”
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Hailed as an “exciting dramatic soprano” (Opera Canada) and for her “command over a powerful range of expressive emotions'' (The Whole Note), Jaclyn Grossman is a member of the Rebanks Fellowship at Toronto’s Roycal Conservatory of Music and Pacific Opera Victoria’s Civic Engagement Artist Residency. During the 2021-2022 season, she was a young artist with the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, Banff Opera in the 21st Century, and Sewanee Summer Music Festival. Upcoming engagements include covering Judith in Against the Grain Theatre’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Freia in Das Rheingold with Edmonton Opera, and appearing with the Buffalo Philharmonic.
A proud co-founder of Likht Ensemble, Jaclyn is passionate about sharing music by Jewish composers from the Holocaust. In the 2022-2023 season, she will continue to curate and perform in the Shoah Songbook, a concert series for the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, and Blond Zosia, a digital recital with Pacific Opera Victoria exploring women’s autonomy through voices from the Holocaust.
