The Role of Music During the Holocaust presented by Dr. Christine Erlander Beard

Did you know music was performed in concentration camps during the Holocaust, and that many camps and ghettos even had orchestras? In this informative lecture-recital, Dr. Christine Beard will discuss the Nazi’s cultural ‘purification’ objectives in relation to music, the affected musicians and composers across Europe, the type of music performed in ghettos and camps, as well as the role music played during the Holocaust. This will be a lecture-recital format and will include a live performance for flute.

Hailed as “…not only having a beautiful tone and phrasing, but the capacity to reveal the deep soul of a composition” (Martin Rokeach, composer), flutist Christine Erlander Beard enjoys an active international career as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher throughout North and South America and Europe. She has appeared as a concerto soloist with orchestras in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Italy, Peru, Russia, and the USA, and was awarded Second Place in the 2019 American Prize Professional Soloist division. Launched in 2019, her #flutistactivist initiative is an ongoing project to commission new works with current social [in]justice themes and present them in workshop-recital formats that aim to educate audiences about how and where to get involved rather than simply being passive listeners. In Fall 2023, she partnered with the Omaha’s Samuel Bak Museum and Learning Center for which she curated pre-lecture recitals featuring composers and music of the Holocaust in conjunction with the spring 2024 exhibit. An international performing artist for Sankyo Flutes (Japan) and Hernandez Flutes (Spain), Dr. Beard is the Kayser Professor of Flute and International Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she is Coordinator of Woodwind Studies and teaches flute, chamber music, and courses in contemporary music. Her research interests include music by persecuted composers.

This program is sponsored by Humanities Nebraska. We appreciate their support!