8 minute read
Album and documentary go digital
Arts&Life
documentary
Advertisement
COURTESY OF DAN YESSIAN
Music Evokes Emotions from Armenian Genocide Album and documentary go digital.
details The documentary An Armenian Trilogy is available on Amazon.
The three-movement classical composition, An Armenian Trilogy – Live in Yerevan, performed by the Armenian National
Philharmonic Orchestra, is available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. Further music availability details and background information can be found at armeniantrilogy.com.
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER P roducer-musician Ohad Wilner and film editor Stewart Shevin grew up in Jewish families never forgetting the Holocaust, but they had no knowledge of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated years earlier by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Ohan Wilner Their knowledge came as they worked on musical projects with first-generation Armenian-American Dan Yessian, and the two enthusiastically helped communicate long-denied atrocities with an award-winning film.
Milford resident Yessian generally immerses his business team in developing music for television Stewart Shevin shows, commercials, theme parks and game platforms through Yessian Music Inc., his music production company based in Farmington Hills with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Hamburg, Germany. Among Yessian’s many clients are the Ford Motor Company, Disney and Intel. But he entered into personally meaningful projects following a request from a religious leader at the Southfield church he attends. Dan Yessian Yessian was asked to create music expressing emo
tions associated with the 100th anniversary of the start of the atrocities in 1915, and the resulting symphony, “An Armenian Trilogy” as performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017, became the center of a new documentary with the same title. The film chronicles Yessian’s journey from composing music for advertisements to writing his first classical composition in honor of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
PRELUDE TO THE HOLOCAUST
Wilner and Shevin readily associate the horrifying experiences of Armenians with the horrifying experiences of Jews, and Yessian agrees.
“The Armenians and the Jews went through a lot of the same things,” said the composer, who has also produced music for a fundraising project initiated by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. “And it’s not only Jews and Armenians through time. The story just goes on and on.”
The film, mostly via unscripted narration by Yessian, points out that in 1939, before invading Poland, Hitler expressed incentive for his horrific actions by suggesting no one remembered the Armenian Genocide so no one would likely remember their actions either. And indeed, it wasn’t until 2019 that the U.S. Senate and House voted to recognize the mass Armenian killings that lasted until 1922 as a genocide.
The film invites viewers into the Yessian home to see where the music was created and to listen to comments from Yessian’s wife, Kathy, as she recalls her husband’s work. Historic film footage from Armenia dramatizes the symphonic sounds.
CREATING THE TONE
“This is the most serious [musical project] that I’ve done,” said Yessian, who works at a Steinway baby grand once owned by composer-performer Burt Bacharach. “It’s a complete, three-movement, classical piece.”
“The Freedom” presents the mood of the happier times before the atrocities began. “The Fear” delves into the dangers with galloping rhythms to represent soldiers on horseback leaning down to spear their victims. “The Faith” explores a
A still shot from the documentary
sense of religious doubts before moving into a sense of hope for the future.
“I’m an ear musician, and I don’t really read music,” Yessian said. “The music [results from] whatever I’m imagining, and I get help with the notation. What I couldn’t play on the piano [for this piece], I would sing for the notation.”
Wilner, whose mother, Niva Wilner, teaches Hebrew at Hillel Day School, described his work on An Armenian Trilogy as doing whatever it took to come up with the finished film, and that involved being on set to help with camera responsibilities or directing, working on the audio mix and writing copy.
“I did have some parts in the film as we overdubbed,” said Wilner, an essentially self-taught, multi-instrumentalist musician who had piano lessons as a youngster. “I do some layers of electric guitar during the second movement, which is supposed to be very angry and emotional.”
He said the inspirational nature of the film resonated with him: “It’s about a man who is a first-generation American finding his way with a passion for music and making a living doing what he loves.
“I’m a kindred spirit as a musician and first-generation American. My parents are Israeli. I think this movie can serve as an inspiration for those who are seeking success through their passion.”
Both Yessian and Wilner give credit for the film’s smoothness to Shevin, who has worked on projects for the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills.
“In working on this film, I was especially intrigued with the idea of someone looking for roots,” Shevin said. “It’s about what we all share and coming together.”
The film, shown at seven festivals, has received the Audience Choice Award at the Soo Film Festival in Sault St. Marie, the Best Score designation at the Northwest Ohio Historic Film Festival and the Exceptional Merit Award at the Docs Without Borders Film Festival.
“When this pandemic is over, I would like to have the musical piece flourish for live performance,” Yessian said. “Music gets to the heart.”
Mom gave you her best - now she deserves the best!
Care for Everyone
Call Jeanne Atkinson and Colleen McDonald for the best home care in Oakland County!
Discreet, light housekeeping, grocery shopping, meal preparation, running errands, transportation, companionship and personal care.
Get The Detroit Jewish News Delivered to Your Door!
thejewishnews.com/subscribe
Arts&Life
celebrity jews
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
NEW OR NEWISH OFFERINGS AND MORE
The High Note is a big-budget film about the music industry that was supposed to open in theaters but was diverted to rental streaming due to COVID-19. High Note centers on an aging superstar diva (Tracee Ellis Ross, 47) and her ambitious assistant (Dakota Johnson). The NY Times review said that the plot was implausible, and Johnson was bland. The Times did praise Ross, the music and many supporting actors.
Trailers have revealed how well Ross (Black-Ish), the daughter of Motown legend Diana Ross, can sing. Tracee’s Jewish father is retired music manager Robert Ellis Silberstein, 73. In a 2015 interview, Tracee said that she grewup celebrating some Jewish and Christian holidays, but wasn’t raised in any faith. However, a highlight of her childhood, she said, was a trip to Israel with her parents. By the way, Tracee has never married and has no children.
The King of Staten Island also was diverted from theaters to video-on-demand (premieres June 12). Directed and co-written by Judd Apatow, 52, it stars Pete Davidson (SNL) in a semi-autobiographical role. He plays Scott, a mid-20s weed-smoking slacker who was traumatized by the death of his firefighter father on 9/11. (In real life, Davidson was traumatized by the death of his firefighter father on 9/11. Pete’s
FOCUS FEATURES
real father was of mostly Jewish ancestry. But he, and Pete, were raised Catholic.)
Scott is jolted out of his “slackdom” when his mom (Marisa Tomei) begins dating Ray, a firefighter whom Pete doesn’t like. The supporting cast includes Maude Apatow, 22, Judd’s daughter, as Claire, Scott’s sister; British actress Bel Powley, 28, as Kelsey, a childhood friend of Scott who secretly hooks up with him (Powley starred in the film Diary of a Teenage Girl); Pamela Adlon, 53, as Gina, Ray’s ex-wife; and Pauline Chalamet, 28, as Joanne (a small role). She is the sister of actor Timothée Chalamet, 24. Pauline has starred in several American and French short films. Like her brother, she’s the daughter of a French Protestant father and American Jewish mother.
Both High Note and King cost $20 to stream for 48 hours. This seems to be the standard price for “biggie” brand-new films diverted to video-on-demand.
Also on June 12, the Hulu original anthology horror series Into the Dark premieres a new episode starring Judy Greer as a woman who gets an emotional support dog. Unknown to her, it kills anyone who causes her stress. Co-stars include Steven Guttenberg, 61. He had a great run of hits in the ’80s, including Police Academy and Cocoon. Then he took five years off, and never got his “hit mojo” back again. But you can catch him in guest TV roles, including five episodes of The Goldbergs this past season.
On The Go
virtual events | learnings
NEW LUXURY RANCH HOMES IN BLOOMFIELD HILLS
STAYING CONNECTED At this time of social distancing, the Jewish News will try to bring awareness to events/learning situations offered online by synagogues, temples and community organizations.
FAMILY CONCERT 7:30 PM, JUNE 14 The Ark in Ann Artbor presents a family concert on its Facebook page; a Facebook account is not necessary to view. This night it is Drew Nelson, storyteller, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist.
YIDDISH LITERATURE 7 PM, JUNE 16 Dr. Anita Norich of the English and Judaic Studies Dept. at University of Michigan will present, in a ZOOM webinar, “Holocaust in Yiddish Literature.” Register at events@holocaustcentrer.org.
THE ARK
SINGING OUT 8:30 PM, JUNE 16 A Virtual Pride Tour presented by the Ark in Ann Arbor. Featured: Mae and Crys Matthews (pictured above). $15. access bit.ly/tasot2020. Info: barb@theark.org.
ACCUSED OF TREASON 7 PM, JUNE 18 “The Story of David Tenenbaum” sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan. A virtual gathering on Zoom. Dr. David Tenenbaum was a mechanical engineer at the TACOM base in Warren, Michigan, when, in 1997, he was falsely accused of being an Israeli spy. Cost: $10 for members and $18 for non-members. Register by 9 pm on Wednesday, June 17; instructions for joining the Zoom call will be sent the day before. info@ michjewishhistory.org.
Compiled by Sy Manello/Editorial Assistant. Send items to calendar@ thejewishnews.com.
ON-SITE TOURS AVAILABLE DAILY FURNISHED MODEL OPEN
