2024! | John Plant composer

I'm astonished and mortified that it's been over a year since my last blog!

My biggest composition project in 2024 was a commission from Peter Kovner, who
somehow always manages to send me down new roads. As always, much brainstorming
took place in the initial stages. What determined the new work's focus was Peter's
discovery that he had a violin-playing ancestor, his grandfather's brother Shlomo Kovnovich.

In 1926, a young Bostonian newlywed named Esther Solomon made a trip to Lithuania to

visit her husband's home town of Troškūnai. She kept a full diary of her visit, and in it she

recounts a visit to Shlomo's home, where she heard him play the violin with his son

Shmuel. She wrote: They say that geniuses spring up from Lord knows where, and it's true
enough. Here, buried in a little obscure village in Lithuania, we should come across two
people, men, whose hearts and souls dwell in their violins.

The diary was published online, with the permission of Esther's descendants, on Kehilalinks,

a site documenting the places where Jewish families have lived. On the same site, Peter
discovered son Shmuel's account of his escape from Troškūnai in 1941, as the Nazis approached.

Peter reached Schmuel's daughter Sonia in Toronto, and she told him: "The whole family were klezmer

players. They all played the violin and entertained Lithuanians, Poles, and Jews. Very often my father

would pick up his violin in Vilnius after the war, and play Yiddish and Russian popular songs..."

The first movement (A summer night in Troškūnai) evokes the music Esther and

Aaron heard - and danced to - during her visit. Later she attends a wedding feast

with the same musicians, who play a kozatsky and a quadrille. I've included them

as well, together with a reel/hornpipe as a nod to Peter's maternal ancestors, who

settled in Newfoundland. The second movement (Farewell. Flight. Dreams) is
inspired by son Shmuel's recollection of his flight from the shtetl in 1941 as the
Nazis approached. But both Peter and I were concerned that this movement
should reflect the plight of anyone fleeing danger and in exile: the sorrow of
farewell, the terror of pursuit, and the dreams of a better life - so that it becomes
possible to envision fleeing TO something and not just AWAY from
something. Fabric collage: Sonia Kovitz

Soo Garay as Pearl/Nan

But once again COVID, in conjunction with other mishaps, intervened.
One of our six actors had to withdraw a week before opening. We were
lucky to be able to replace her, but a few days later the stage manager
tested positive for COVID. Once again, we found a replacement, but then,
between the dress rehearsal and opening night, the male lead tested
positive. I stepped in, masked, to take his place, but I could not learn the
beautifully intricate blocking, including manipulating and moving scenery
throughout every corner of the space - not just between scenes but during
them as well. So we settled for an 'enhanced reading,' with costumes,
greatly reduced movement, and music stands, but - blessedly - we were
able to maintain Christian Hansen's magnificent projections.

Tip Finless as Junior

.Photographer Stoo Metz and his assistant were the only 'outsiders' to see and hear the dress rehearsal; they commented that it had the intensity of a 'fevered dream.' Wanda and I both hope that audiences will soon be able to experience this work as they did; and we are deeply grateful to everyone whose unstinting efforts enabled it to reach the stage, in the face of all obstacles.

Photographer Stoo Metz and his assistant were the only 'outsiders' to see and hear the dress rehearsal; they commented that it had the intensity of a 'fevered dream.' Wanda and I both hope that audiences will soon be able to experience this work as they did; and we are deeply grateful to everyone whose unstinting efforts enabled it to reach the stage, in the face of all obstacles.

Jennifer King, piano