[wpforms id="1589"]
[wpforms id="2370"]

Terms & Conditions

Terms & Conditions

Terms

By accessing this web site, you are agreeing to be bound by these web site Terms and Conditions of Use, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws.If you do not agree with any of these terms, you are prohibited from using or accessing this site. The materials contained in this web site are protected by applicable copyright and trade mark law.

Use License

Permission is granted to temporarily download one copy of the materials (information or software) on Jewish Arts Collaborative’s web site for personal, non-commercial transitory viewing only. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license you may not:
modify or copy the materials;
use the materials for any commercial purpose, or for any public display (commercial or non-commercial);
attempt to decompile or reverse engineer any software contained on Jewish Arts Collaborative’s web site;
remove any copyright or other proprietary notations from the materials; or
transfer the materials to another person or “mirror” the materials on any other server.

This license shall automatically terminate if you violate any of these restrictions and may be terminated by Jewish Arts Collaborative at any time. Upon terminating your viewing of these materials or upon the termination of this license, you must destroy any downloaded materials in your possession whether in electronic or printed format.

Disclaimer

The materials on Jewish Arts Collaborative’s web site are provided “as is”. Jewish Arts Collaborative makes no warranties, expressed or implied, and hereby disclaims and negates all other warranties, including without limitation, implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property or other violation of rights. Further, Jewish Arts Collaborative does not warrant or make any representations concerning the accuracy, likely results, or reliability of the use of the materials on its Internet web site or otherwise relating to such materials or on any sites linked to this site.

Limitations

In no event shall Jewish Arts Collaborative or its suppliers be liable for any damages (including, without limitation, damages for loss of data or profit, or due to business interruption,) arising out of the use or inability to use the materials on Jewish Arts Collaborative’s Internet site, even if Jewish Arts Collaborative or a Jewish Arts Collaborative authorized representative has been notified orally or in writing of the possibility of such damage. Because some jurisdictions do not allow limitations on implied warranties, or limitations of liability for consequential or incidental damages, these limitations may not apply to you.

Revisions and Errata

The materials appearing on Jewish Arts Collaborative’s web site could include technical, typographical, or photographic errors. Jewish Arts Collaborative does not warrant that any of the materials on its web site are accurate, complete, or current. Jewish Arts Collaborative may make changes to the materials contained on its web site at any time without notice. Jewish Arts Collaborative does not, however, make any commitment to update the materials.

Links

Jewish Arts Collaborative has not reviewed all of the sites linked to its Internet web site and is not responsible for the contents of any such linked site. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Jewish Arts Collaborative of the site. Use of any such linked web site is at the user’s own risk.

Site Terms of Use Modifications

Jewish Arts Collaborative may revise these terms of use for its web site at any time without notice. By using this web site you are agreeing to be bound by the then current version of these Terms and Conditions of Use.

Governing Law

Any claim relating to Jewish Arts Collaborative’s web site shall be governed by the laws of the State of Massachusetts without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Contacting us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this site, please contact us at:

Jewish Arts Collaborative
1320 Centre Street
Newton, MA 02459
info@jartsboston.org
617.531.4610

Icons by:
Jamison Wieser
Moch Rizki Eko Waluyo
pictohaven

© 2016 Jewish Arts Collaborative


SCROLL TO VIEW MORE

Music

Can you separate the art from the artist?: You Will Not Play Wagner

By Jewish Arts Collaborative

Published Aug 28, 2023

FacebookTwitterEmail

Collection

This Curation is part of Combating Antisemitism.

Explore the full collection ⟶

You Will Not Play Wagner | Trailer

Above: (1 min) Trailer for You Will Not Play Wagner, 2020.

 

Performing Wagner has been unofficially banned in Israel since the state’s creation because Wagner was a cultural touchstone of Nazism. But, could Wagner’s music transcend the antisemitic views of its creator?

 

You Will Not Play Wagner takes place in New York City and Tel Aviv as the characters Zoom across the COVID-19-plagued world. Ya’akov, a young Israeli upstart, provokes an uproar when he chooses to perform Wagner in the finals of an international competition for conductors. He comes into conflict with Esther, a Holocaust survivor and competition patron who has her own tragic connection with Wagner’s music, and Morris, the competition’s organizer.

Their arguments push the competition to the brink. Should Ya’akov conduct Wagner? Should the politics of the composer interfere with the quality of his art? To what extent do we honor the memory of the Holocaust, its survivors, and their descendants, without stifling the next generation? And would a Jewish Israeli conducting Wagner be treachery or triumph?

South African playwright Victor Gordon adapted his play for Zoom just before he passed away from COVID-19. This film is in his memory.

 

FIND A SCREENING NEAR YOU.

Run time: 64 minutes

Original language English, some Hebrew

 

Directed by: Lilia Levitina

Starring: Annette Miller, Ofek Cohen, Avi Hoffman

 

Executive Producer: Jewish Arts Collaborative

Producers: Ernest Aranov, Norman Lang, Rick Macomber, Annette Miller, Christo Tsiaras

 

Playwright: Victor Gordon

Screen Adaptation: Anna Ampleeva, Lilia Levitina

 

Boston Crew: Director of Photography Rick Macombe, Assistant DP Norman Lang, Assistant DP Christo Tsiaras, Sound Billy Rosenthal, Make-up by Elizabeth Stockman, Production Assistant Melody Mason, Violin player/Esther’s childhood self Olga Kamiinsky

Tel-Aviv Crew: Producer Ernest Aranov, Director of Photography Rolik Novitsky, Assistant DP Arina Ger, Sound Michael Gurevich, Production Assistants: Lena Charash and Moti Zahavi, Tamir Kurtatinsky, Alexei Benshtain, Musical Score: Mark Galinovsky, Lucas Syed

 

Editor and Sound Editor: Christo Tsiaras

 

Special Thanks: Anat and Yael Zahavi, Nadine Rosinoer, Olga Minsky, Michael Miller, Max Lifshin, John Escobar, Claudio Ragazzi, Michael Savikovsky, Zvi Polunsky, Emily Romm, Eugene and Eva Kaminsky, Michael Teplitsky at Theater Malenky, Gilad Alon & Bruno Amir at Cafe May 6, Govane Lohbauer at Shakespeare & Co, Ido Solomon at F.A.B. Defense, Mark Levitin, Ella Nikolaevsky, Maria Koreneva

 

You Will Not Play Wagner is an original piece by JArts TheaterWorks, commissioned by JArts and created in partnership with the Forward and the Consulate General of Israel to New England.

Talkback at the Miami Jewish Film Festival

Above: (30 min) Hosts of the Miami Jewish Film Festival 2023 in conversation with director Lilia Levitina and actor Avi Hoffman of You Will Not Play Wagner.

FacebookTwitterEmail

JArts’ mission is to curate, celebrate, and build community around the diverse world of Jewish arts, culture, and creative expression. Our vision is of a more connected, engaged, and tolerant world inspired by Jewish arts and culture.

# Music

Reflections

Do you think art can truly be separated from the artist's personal beliefs or the historical context surrounding it? Performing Wagner has been unofficially banned in Israel since the creation of the state because he was a cultural touchstone of Nazism. But could Wagner’s music transcend the anti-Semitic views of its creator? When Ya’akov, an Israeli conductor, announces he will play Wagner in the finals of the Esther Greenbaum International Conductors’ Competition, Esther, a Holocaust survivor, must face a moral dilemma: whether the trauma of the past justifies stifling the future of young talent. Buried memories, nightmarish dreams uncovered -- Ya'akov and Esther, aided by Morris, the competition organizer, viscerally argue their opposing points of view from Tel-Aviv, the Berkshires, and Brooklyn. Across the COVID-plagued world and across historical, ethical, and personal domains, will they be able to hear each other? Starring Annette Miller, Ofek Cohen, and Avi Hoffman.   Director Lilia Levitina is an actress, producer, and writer who immigrated to the Boston area from the former Soviet Union in 1988. She brought with her a rich Russian theatrical tradition and a dream to do theater professionally. While working as a teacher by day, she founded a theater company -- Basement on the Hill Stage -- by night. What started in the basement of her house burst onto the Boston theater scene with acclaimed productions such as The Shawl and A Life in the Theater by David Mamet, The Promise by Aleksei Arbuzov, The Language of Kisses by Edmund de Santis, The Fox by Allan Miller, and others. Marking her 30 years in the US, Lilia conceived, produced, and performed a one-woman show From the Gray Notebook. Through memoir, poetry, and striking imagery, The Gray Notebook chronicles the journey of her generation of Jewish Russian immigrants across continents, languages, and cultures. You Will Not Play Wagner is Lilia's first movie.  
Words from Lilia:
You Will Not Play Wagner is dedicated to the memory of Victor Gordon, a South African Jewish playwright, who passed away of COVID in the middle of the play's adaptation for screen. As the cast and I faced the responsibility of honoring Victor's legacy, we pored over the characters’ psychology and uncovered layers of meaning in Victor's text. Beyond the central plot question of "to play or not to play Wagner in Israel," there are Jewish and universal questions of tikkun olam, the healing of the world. How does a person position themself and their people within the narratives of individual and collective trauma? Is tikkun olam possible without personal healing? In today's polarized world, can a conversation between people on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum bring hope? And of course and always -- what role does art have to play?
    “'You Will Not Play Wagner' Sparks Complicated Feelings About Acknowledging Art."  - JewishBoston.com Arts Fuse Feature: Favorite Stage Productions of 2021

New

Art
Jewish Identities
Sephardic Voices

Want more?

Get curated JewishArts.org content in your inbox

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.