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About the Score

Wagon of Shoes is an extended work for tenor solo, SATB chorus, solo violin and piano. It was commissioned to celebrate the Lithuanian-Jewish tradition and the 300th anniversary of the great Yiddish thinker, Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon, known as the Vilna Gaon. Approximately 700 years ago, Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, sent letters to seven European lands, inviting craftsmen, merchants, knights and farmers to come to Lithuania and participate in Lithuanian culture and community. This marks both the founding of Vilnius (Vilna), the capital city of Lithuania, and the beginning of Jewish settlement in Lithuania. Lithuania became one of the most important centers of Jewish culture, beginning with this open door in the 14th century. While it is written in a single movement, Wagon of Shoes consists of three sections: 1. The Lithuanian people pay homage to Gediminas (tenor), who proceeds to welcome all peoples to Lithuania. 2. Poet Abraham Sutzkever’s poem describes the wagons of shoes rolling through the Vilna ghetto during World War II. The poem imagines the lives of those who have lost their lives in the Holocaust whose shoes fill the wagons. After the war, the poet (tenor solo) looks back on his experience of seeing the wagons of shoes and absorbing the destruction of his community. 3. The piece closes with a benediction of words from the end of the Kaddish prayer, a remembrance of lives lost and hopes for a better future of peace and reconciliation. Premiere: DAINAVA Lithuanian Chorale, Darius Polikaitis, Director, Rafailas Karpis, tenor, Linda Veleckis, violin, Lee Kesselman, piano; June 16, 2022 at DePaul University in Chicago, IL

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