FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8, 2006
Contact: Joshua Hollis
(662) 329-7119
Daughter of Holocaust survivors presents musical
program at MUW
COLUMBUS, Miss. – The Ina E. Gordy Honors College
and the Southern Women’s Institute at MUW will host
“An Evening with Madame F” on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 6
p.m. in Rent Auditorium, Whitfield Hall.
“An Evening with Madame F” is an internationally
acclaimed musical drama created by Claudia Stevens,
who plays piano, sings and acts during the
production. Adopting the persona of an elderly
concentration camp musician who had performed in
Auschwitz, Stevens uses music actually played and
sung by women inmates there, as well as first-hand
accounts, to depict the physical struggle and
ethical dilemma of those who survived through
musical performance. The daughter of Holocaust
survivors, Stevens also meditates on the issue of
treating the Holocaust as the subject for artistic
expression.
Because November 9 is also the anniversary of
Kristallnacht, “The Night of Broken Glass,” the
program will be especially meaningful to the
audience. According to historian Mitchell Bard, “On
the nights of November 9 and 10, 1938, rampaging
mobs throughout Germany and the newly acquired
territories of Austria and Sudetenland freely
attacked Jews in the street, in their homes and at
their places of work and worship. At least 96 Jews
were killed and hundreds more injured . . . and
30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration
camps.”
The Baltimore Sun called Stevens’ performance “an
astonishingly courageous, unforgettable evening.”
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said, “Stevens
creates a terrifically convincing character,” while
The Virginia Gazette said, “Few are blessed with
such passion.”
“An Evening with Madame F” was even produced for a
television broadcast by PBS affiliates WCVE and WHTJ.
A Vassar graduate, Stevens has a master’s degree in
musicology from the University of California at
Berkeley and a Doctorate in Musical Arts from Boston
University. She has performed at Carnegie Recital
Hall as a pianist and composer and has been featured
on several “Performance Today on NPR” broadcasts.
Stevens has performed extensively throughout the
United States and recently in Rangoon and Bangkok.
“An Evening with Madame F” has been presented by
leading academic institutions including Brown,
Emory, Duke and Vanderbilt.
The event is free and open to the public.
