The Bard College Conservatory of Music Presents a Special Event: “Remembering the Genocide of European Roma During World War II” Followed By a Performance of Mozart’s Requiem

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Bard College Conservatory of Music presents a special event on Friday, October 17: a panel discussion titled “Remembering the Genocide of European Roma during World War II” followed by a performance of Mozart’s Requiem. Exploring issues of history and responsibility, the themed event was conceived of by acclaimed Hungarian conductor Ádám Fischer, who will conduct the Requiem Mass and participate on the panel. The panel discussion will be held at 4 p.m. in the László Z. Bitó ’60 Conservatory Building, followed by a performance of the Requiem with James Bagwell, chorus master at 6:30 p.m. in the Sosnoff Theater of The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. This program is presented in association with the Fisher Center, the Bard Center for Civic Engagement, Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College, and Bard College Music Program.    

Tickets are free for both events and no reservations are necessary. For more information, contact the Fisher Center box office at fishercenter.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900. 

The panel discussion, moderated by Bard President Leon Botstein, includes Fischer and leading figures from the fields of history, human rights, and international law, and will explore the history and background of the events of 1944, as well as the current struggle for Roma rights in Europe. “My wish is that we can help by shining light on this dark chapter of human history, by sparking dialogue and countering indifference here in the United States, and by sending a message to be heard by the Romani around the world that they are not alone,” says Fischer.

Panelists include Constantin Iordachi, associate professor of history, Central European University; Margareta Matache, instructor, Harvard University; and Erika Schlager, counsel for international law, U.S. Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Following the panel discussion, Mozart’s Requiem Mass will be performed in the Sosnoff Theater by more than 70 musicians from the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra, Bard Graduate Vocal Arts Program, Bard College Chamber Singers, and members of the chorus of the Longy School of Music of Bard College.

Soloists of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program of The Bard College Conservatory of Music include Laura Soto-Bayomi, soprano; Katherine Maysek ’15, mezzo-soprano; Matthew Slipp ’16, tenor; and Andrew Munn ’16, bass.

Ádám Fischer appears with the kind permission of the Metropolitan Opera of New York.

For more information, contact the Fisher Center box office at fishercenter.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900.

About the Panelists

Ádám Fischer Founder and Chief Conductor, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra; Conductor, Danish National Chamber Orchestra

Ádám Fischer studied conducting and composition at the Liszt Ferenc Academy in Budapest and started his career at the Graz Opera. He became Kapellmeister at opera companies in Karlsruhe, Munich (Bavarian State Opera), and Helsinki, and general music director in Freiburg, Kassel, and at the National Theatre of Mannheim. From 2007–10 he was music director of the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest. Fischer conducts at major opera houses and festivals, including the Wiener Staatsoper, Paris Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and Metropolitan Opera, and appears as guest conductor with the Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra London, Royal Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan, and NHK Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Orchestre de Paris, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, and Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In 1987 Fischer founded the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra. In 1998 he became principal conductor of the Danish National Chamber Orchestra.

Constantin Iordachi Associate Professor of History, Central European University

In addition to teaching at the Central European University in Budapest, Constantin Iordachi is codirector of Pasts, Inc., Center for Historical Studies, and associate editor of the journal East Central Europe. His research focuses on comparative approaches to historical research; totalitarianism and mass politics; and citizenship and minorities in Central and Southeastern Europe. His publications include Charisma, Politics and Violence: The Legion of the “Archangel Michael” in Inter-war Romania and Citizenship, Nation and State-Building: The Integration of Northern Dobrogea in Romania, 1878–1913. He is editor or coeditor of Hungary and Romania Beyond National Narratives: Comparisons and Entanglements; Reacquiring Romanian Citizenship: Historical, Comparative and Applied Perspectives; Comparative Fascist Studies: New Perspectives Transforming Peasants, Property and Power: The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania, 1949–1962; and România si Transnistria (Romania and the Trans-Dniester Region: The Question of the Holocaust), among others.

Margareta Matache Instructor, Harvard University

Margareta Matache, a Roma rights activist from Romania, has been a powerful voice for the Roma in grassroots, national, and international contexts. In 2012 she received a Houser Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights. From 2005 to 2012, Matache was executive director of the Romani Center for Social Intervention and Studies (CRISS), a leading Roma NGO that defends and promotes the rights of the Roma. During her mandate, Romani CRISS took a stand against discrimination in landmark cases targeting the president, prime minister, and foreign minister of Romania. These efforts contributed to the approval of the domestic School Desegregation Bill in Romania. Matache served as a youth worker for cultural diversity and minority rights using nonformal education tools with the Council of Europe Youth, and implemented projects including “Roma and the Stability Pact in South-Eastern Europe” and “Roma Use Your Ballot Wisely.” She completed her doctoral research on early childhood development of Romani children at the University of Bucharest, and holds a master’s degree in European social policies. Her publications and research address the rights, agency, and social ecology of Romani children and adolescents; early childhood development; Romani women; anti-Roma violence; and segregation in education.

Erika Schlager Counsel for International Law, U.S. Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe

Erika B. Schlager serves as counsel for international law for the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, also known as the Helsinki Commission). She works with the Helsinki Commission’s congressional leadership and the Department of State, and follows a broad range of human rights concerns, with a focus on Central Europe; the human rights of the Romani minority, U.S. human rights practices, and international legal issues. She was educated at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and earned her A.M. degree in Soviet Union area studies from Harvard University and her juris doctor degree from the George Washington University Law School. She studied at Warsaw University as a Fulbright Fellow and received a diploma from the International Institute of Human Rights Law in Strasbourg, France. She is a member in good standing of the Bars of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

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October 7, 2014

This event was last updated on 10-13-2014

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