Renan Koen’s Holocaust Concert on January 27th at Harvard University

Koen’s expressive concert ‘Holocaust Remembrance/ Before Sleep’ will take place at Harvard University Art Museum, at 08.30pm. 

Renan Koen was invited to perform at the event by Omur Budak, Turkey’s Consul General in Boston. This concert is also significant since it marks the first collaboration between TR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Harvard University.  

‘Before Sleep’ Album 

‘Holocaust Remembrance /Before Sleep’ is Renan Koen’s third album. It was first released in November 2015. The album consists of select piano and choral works from four late composers Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, Zikmund Schul and Viktor Ullmann who were imprisoned in Terezin Concentration Camp and killed in Auschwitz Concentration Camp, during World War II. Before releasing this album, Koen had done years of research on these composers and their piano and choral works which were composed before and after they were imprisoned. 

The piano and choral works Koen selected for this album reveals how these composers, despite the grueling conditions at Terezin Concentration Camp, continued creating their music with the strength they got from years of music education and discipline and in a way put up a positive resistance.

The last track of the album “The Rise” is composed by Koen in dedication to “all Holocaust Heroes”.  In this track, world-renowned violinist Ulrich Mertin joins Koen.  

Previous concerts

The choral and piano works of four composers have become a permanent document with the album ‘Before Sleep’. The album was first introduced to audience in April 2015 in a concert at Zorlu Performance Arts Center.  Also, in April 2017, Koen, invited by the Turkish Embassy had given several ‘Holocaust Remembrance’ concerts, in Brazil. 

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