FARMINGTON HILLS, (Holocaust Memorial Center) - Internationally acclaimed Greek-American singing star and
Detroit native Nadia Weinberg will appear in an exciting "homecoming" performance when the Holocaust Memorial Center of Greater
Detroit (HMC) holds its 21st Anniversary celebration gala next month.
The opportunity arose when Ms. Weinberg, who is one of Europe's most celebrated singers, made a personal visit to the Center last year. While viewing the exhibits, she was moved by the idea of appearing in association with the HMC event and of performing so close to her former home. With the kind assistance of Greece's Alternate Minister of Culture, Fanny Palli-Petralia, the Greek government, then agreed to provide a grant that would make it possible to bring Ms. Weinberg to Michigan as an addition to her fall 2005 tour of the United States.
"When I was first contacted about a possible concert at the Holocaust Memorial Center event in the Detroit area, I could tell immediately how passionate Nadia was about adding it to the tour," said Alternate Minister Palli-Petralia. "I saw at once, though, how good that would be for the tour, and I was delighted when we were able to make it happen."
Ten outstanding musicians assembled from the Athens Symphony, the Athens Opera House, the Chamber Orchestra of Athens and the State Orchestra of Greece, also appearing in Michigan by courtesy of the Greek government's support, will accompany Ms. Weinberg. Her one-hour program at the HMC event will include the solemn "Mauthausen Trilogy," based on prisoners' experiences in the Mauthausen concentration camp, as well as Hebrew and Yiddish favorites and a medley of Broadway show tunes. Dr. David DiChiera, who is Director of the Michigan Opera Theater and a leading public figure, has consented to act as Master of Ceremonies for Ms. Weinberg's concert.
Born in Detroit, Mich., Ms. Weinberg spent her pre-school and elementary education at Brookfield Academy, a Montessori school in the city's northern suburbs founded by her parents, Dr. David and Mrs. Effie Weinberg.
Later, while she was a high school student at Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Ms. Weinberg studied voice, piano, ballet and Suzuki-method violin. She then spent her college years in her mother's native country at the American College of Greece in Athens. She continued her voice training in Athens under well-known European instructors.
Ms. Weinberg was "discovered" by Mikis Theodorakis, composer of the memorable music from "Zorba the Greek" and of the score from the dramatic movie "Z." Mr. Theodorakis included her as a soloist on one of his North American tours with the Athens Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Weinberg has now performed in more than 250 concerts at more than 100 venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, and Kennedy Center and the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Her appearances have consistently earned accolades -- such as "a spellbinding singer" (New York Times), "worthy of her own medal" (International Herald Tribune), "consummate artist" (The Times of London) and "Bravo Nadia!" (CNN).
Ms. Weinberg's fame in Greece was greatly enhanced last year when she was selected by the organizers of the Athens Olympic Committee to accompany the 2004 Olympic flame across Greece. She gave a concert in each of the overnight stop cities along the flame's route, accompanied -- as she will be on her U.S. tour this fall -- by ten leading musicians from the Athens symphony/opera community.
Ms. Weinberg's performance at its Annual Gala event will mark the HMC's third important musical presentation in 2005, a year in which the world is recalling the liberation of the concentration camps sixty years ago.
In March, a concert at the Center by Detroit's much renowned Rackham Symphony Choir featured the Holocaust Cantata, as well as songs from selected operas.
This was followed in May by a successful production of the haunting "TIKVAH" ("Hope"), a multimedia work that blended live instrumentals, voice, narration, song and dance with video and special lighting design to relate the personal story of a survivor of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
"The performing arts medium provides very effective opportunities for expressing the experiences of Holocaust victims," said Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig, Director and CEO of the Holocaust Memorial Center, "because it makes it possible to portray both the dark horror and tragedy and the bright survival and hope in dramatic and moving ways."
When it opened its doors in October 1984 in a facility on the property of the Jewish Community Campus in West Bloomfield, Mich., the Holocaust Memorial Center was the first institution of its kind in the United States. After welcoming more than one million visitors from all over the world, the HMC proudly moved in early 2004 to an all-new, enhanced location in Farmington Hills, Mich.
With its stunning and evocative building design, greatly expanded floor space and state-of-the-art exhibit content and techniques, the new HMC complements the tragic story of the Holocaust with new, in-depth displays that include a historical Time-Line and Jewish Heritage. In addition, an International Institute of the Righteous honors the thousands who, at the risk of their own lives, saved or tried to save at least one Jew during the Holocaust period. The HMC has been rated as "Michigan's No 1 historical tourist attraction" by one of Detroit's major newspapers, and as a "Gem" in the AAA TourBook.
The HMC is located at 28123 Orchard Lake Road in Farmington Hills. Further information regarding hours of opening, arrangements for tours, etc., can be obtained by calling (248)553-2400, or by visiting the Web site at https://www.holocaustcenter.org .
The HMC's 21st Anniversary celebration will be held on Sunday, October 23 at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills. A cocktail reception and strolling dinner will be served beginning at 5:30 p.m. Nadia Weinberg's concert begins at 7:00 p.m. and will be followed by an afterglow featuring deluxe desserts.
Entrance is by reserved seating only. Tickets are available at $200 per person and can be obtained by calling Selma Silverman at the Holocaust Memorial Center on (248)553-2400, ext. 12.
