The Black Oak Ensemble

When: Sunday, January 28, 2024 - 5pm

Where: Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church, 410 Sycamore Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941

What: Chamber Music Marin presents The Black Oak Ensemble as part of their 2023-24 Chamber Music Concert Series, presenting world-renowned classical musicians in intimate concerts at affordable prices.

Since its inception in 1973, the all-volunteer nonprofit has presented hundreds of nationally and internationally recognized touring musicians to audiences totaling over 50,000 guests. Many of these musicians are rising stars, with notable musicians such as Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell and world renowned pianist Angela Hewitt having performed in past concert series.

Who: The Black Oak Ensemble consists of violinist Desirée Ruhstadt, cellist David Cunliffe, and violist Aurélien Fort Pederzoli. Currently in residence at the New Music School in Chicago, they concertize throughout Europe and North America.

The concert will include selections from their concert and recording project, “Silenced Voices,” string trios created by Jewish composers silenced by the Holocaust.
About Silenced Voices: Aurélien's mother, a history teacher who comes from a Sephardic family, devoted her life to bringing awareness to the Holocaust. One of her proudest endeavors was bringing students every year on a teaching voyage to Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Terezin.

In the spring of 2016, Desirée and David came back from Budapest, Hungary with string trios they had found in a local shop that were penned by young musicians who would not survive the holocaust. The pieces featured in Silenced Voices were among them. These pieces are fantastic works of art and, through their darkness, are incredibly human and ultimately uplifting. That such music could be written in these conditions is a testament to the resilience and faith of these artists.

The Black Oak Ensemble is committed to sharing this music with communities all across the country, in collaboration with not only synagogues, but also educational centers, and the rest of the world.

Our hope is for this project to speak for those who were so brutally silenced during the Pogroms, the Exiles and the Shoah. Ordinary people suffered, artists suffered, and their voices needed to be heard. - The Black Oak Ensemble

Public Information: Ticket prices are $48 GA, youths 18 and under are always free. To purchase tickets, visit www.chambermusicmarin.org

A dedicated board of directors actively runs the Chamber Music Marin concert series, presenting five concerts each season. Additionally, Chamber Music Marin is dedicated to promoting classical music by educational outreach programs to Marin County school children, thus exposing the next generation to the exquisite pleasures of chamber music. www.chambermusicmillvalley.org