Centuries Old Dresden Choir page 7-THENEws-February 1992
Performs in Canadian Synagogue Artist Brings Unique Vision to Charlotte Showing
TORONTO (JTA) — One of
Germany’s best-known choirs,
the Dresdner Kreuzchor, recent
ly marked an artistic milestone
on the road to German-Jewish
rapproachement when it per
formed Felix Mendelssohn’s
oratorio “Elijah” here at Holy
Blossom Temple.
For the eternally youthful
choir, composed of 150 Luther
an boys between the ages of 10
and 18 — of whom 88 were in
Toronto — the Canadian debut
was more than just another
destination on the choir’s 140-
concert-a-year schedule. It was
the first performance in a Jewish
house of worship in the nearly
eight centuries of the Dresden
Church of the Cross Choir’s
musical history.
Impresario Claus Kirchhof of
Elbe Star Inc, invested three
years of planning and consider
able personal financial risk in the
ecumenical spectacle — which
featured the Reform shul’s can
tor, Benjamin Maissner, and
soloists from the Berlin State
Opera, the Dresden State Opera
and the Leipzig Opera.
For Kirchhof, a 54-year-old
native of Dresden, the perfor
mance was the culmination of a
liftime identity crisis rooted in
his childhood status as an
“eighth-degree mischling.”
Under the arcane rules of Nazi
racial pseudoscience as set out
by theorists Hans Gunther and
Alfred Rosenberg, those who,
like Kirchhof, had one Jewish
great-grandparent, were consid
ered Aryan. But for many in that
situation, that trace of Jewish
ness was a cause for racial stigma
and social ambiguity.
Seeking to escape his pro
longed trauma, Kirchhof moved
to Canada in 1956. Today he
operates a pharmaceutical sup
ply company in the Toronto
suburb of Mississauga — and
works to heal the wounds of
World War II by promoting
German-Jewish dialogue.
Kirchhof originally planned
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an ambitious eight-city North
American tour that would serve
as a “gesture of reconciliation
between Germans and Jews,”
but limited sponsorship forced
the cancellation of planned
appearances in Boston, Cam
bridge, Providence and New
Haven, and grand finales at New
York’s Carnegie Hall and Phi
ladelphia’s Academy of Music.
His son, also named Arsenius,
converted to Christianity and
reached the status of senator in
the Byzantine capital Constan
tinople. Nevertheless, he re
tained contacts with his family
and his hometown, and was even
involved in the construction of
the city wall.
Silvanus was killed by a Chris
tian mob in 529, during a Sa
maritan revolt against the Chris
tians. The Christians claimed
that Silvanus used his important
status to work against their
community.
Dutch Aid Ethiopian Absorption
AMSTERDAM (JTA) —
The Dutch government has
given Israel emergency assis
tance in the amount of $500,000
to help resettle immigrants from
Ethiopia, subject to one condi
tion.
The grant, by the Ministry of
Development, will be strictly
supervised by the Netherlands
Embassy in Israel to make sure
that the immigrants are not
housed or settled in the admin
istered territories.
German Church to Purge
Offensive Texts
BONN (JTA) — The Protes
tant church in Germany has
acknowledged that anti-Jewish
passages still exist in its texts and
is determined to purge them, the
church’s central organization,
EKD concluded that all texts
Beth Ames Swartz is a sea
soned artist who believes artists
can lead the way toward a
transformation of our culture.
She demonstrates this profound
belief in her new show, “Of Earth
And Spirit,” which opens Feb
ruary 5 in Artefino Gallery, 119
East 7th Street.
“Creative people have before
them the opportunity to think
cont’d from page 4
must be screened anew for anti-
Jewish bias.
An effort undertaken in 1975
apparently fell short of its goal,
the study found. The population
of united Germany is more than
50 percent Protestant, In the
former West Germany, it was
evenly divided between Protest
ants and Roman Catholics,
Israeli, Arab Scientists Cooperating
TEL AVIV (JTA) — There is
an unusual secret collaboration
in animal husbandry between
Israeli and Arab scientists from
Persian Gulf states.
Scientists from Saudi Arabia
and Dubai, one of the United
Arab Emirates, have visited
Israel on several occasions,
although most of the meetings
between Israeli researchers and
their Arab colleagues have been
held in Europe.
But Arab scientists came to
Israel in the context of cooper
ation with a research group at
Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev in Beersheba, which is
studying how to improve species
of ostriches, camels, sheep and
goats. The emirate of Abu Dhabi
has also requested Israel’s assist
ance in breeding a species of
racing camels.
Volunteers Needed to Help
Our New Americans
Call 364-6594
of themselves as leaders of a new
cultural paradigm rather than
reflecting an old one,” says
Swartz, who divides her time
between studios in Arizona and
New York. “My art, as well as
my life, is devoted to creating
images that are not only uplift
ing but invite the viewer to
become a positive change agent
in the service of sustaining life
on the planet.”
This philosophy is aptly re
flected in “Of Earth And Spirit,”
which contains selected works
from 1982 through 1992. Includ
ed are paintings from the series,
“Healing Our Sacred Wounds,”
which deals with transforming
psychological wounds that are
projected out toward the planet
and reconnecting with the earth
as a living organism.
Also in the exhibit are pieces
from “Israel Revisited,” a histor
ical and visual statement that
arose from the artist’s study of
the Kabbalah, a system of Jew
ish mysticism. The pieces are
mixed media on layered paper
and collage on canvas.
“Beth Ames Swartz already
has been recognized as a truly
groundbreaking pioneer who
has committed her life to estab
lishing the artist as a positive
catalyst for change,” explains
Santiago Leon, owner of Arte-
fmo Gallery. “She combines an
inspiring presence with powerful
works of art that deserve con
templation and study,”
A professional artist for over
35 years, the 55-year-old Swartz
to bfti ovex
Beth Ames Swartz,
exhibitions and three traveling
museum exhibits. Her work is
featured in many prominent
collections including the Jewish
Museum, the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, the
Brooklyn Museum and the Na
tional Museum of American
Art, Smithsonian Institution, A
book documenting her career.
Connecting by Mary Carroll
Nelson, was published in 1984
and, most recently, she was
documented in the 1991 The
Reenchantment of Art by Suzi
Gablik.
In a 1988 essay, John Per
reault, art critic and past pres
ident of the American Section,
International Association of Art
Critics, identified Swartz as a
pioneer. He called for a new
world “that is not doctrinaire but
forward looking and respectful
of others and our environment...
Eventually Beth Ames Swartz
will be identified as one of the
artists who initiated this trans-
CotoiatiQa^”
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BETH
AMES
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CONTtMPORARY AND MODt RN AR \
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I I 9 EAST 7TH STREET CHARLOTTE. NC 28202
TELEPHONE 704 372 3903
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