Past Events

Germantown Jewish Centre

MOTHERS OF MOSES - 3 PM

Price: Free

"Mothers of Moses," a 20-minute chamber work by composer Rene Orth and librettist Ellen Frankel, a piece of three female voices and two instruments, will be presented as part of an interfaith community seder at The Germantown Jewish Centre prior to the beginning of the Passover holiday. All are welcome to attend!

Community Church of New York

THE TRIANGLE FIRE - 3 pm

Price: $10

The Triangle Fire

An Opera in One Act

Libretto by Ellen Frankel

 Music by Leonard Lehrman

A Puffin Foundation commission

starring Alessandra Altieri, David Anchel, David Aubrey, Jackie Bakewell, 

Charles Samuel Brown, Augusta Caso, Bill Castleman, Kevin Courtemanche, Amy Glass, 

 Michael Niemann, Thomas Smith, Michelle Pellegrino Wallace, Nancy Zucker

with The Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus in association with The Bronx Opera

 and  The Solidarity Singers of the New Jersey Industrial Union Council

conducted by the composer 

        March 5, 2017: Long Beach Library, 2:30 pm

                   111 West Park Avenue, Long Beach, NY

         March 12, 2017: Community Church, Community Church, 3 pm

                    Park Avenue & W. 35th Street in Manhattan

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in lower Manhattan, killing 146 garment workers, most of them young Jewish and Italian women recently arrived from Europe. It was one of the worst industrial accidents in American history. Ten days later, 400,000 New Yorkers participated in a funeral march honoring the Triangle victims. Public outrage over the dangerous working conditions, including doors locked to prevent worker theft, led to major reforms in New York's and then the nation’s labor laws, and strengthened the growing union movement, which many of the Triangle workers had fought for in a strike two years before. But when Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, the Triangle’s owners, known popularly as “the Shirtwaist Kings,” were put on trial for manslaughter that December, they were acquitted. Blanck and Harris were awarded $400 per victim from their insurance. The victims’ families received an average of $75 in compensation.

This is the first opera ever to focus exclusively on the subject, its aftermath, and the ramifications for today. Focusing on the trial in the courtroom of Judge Thomas Crain, and drawing from the transcript and newspaper accounts, the work explores a human triangle central to this story, with the Triangle Factory’s owners at its apex, and the two trial lawyers on opposing sides: Debating the owners' culpability are defense lawyer Max David Steuer, a Jewish immigrant and former garment worker, who has worked his way up to become “the Million Dollar Lawyer,” favored defender of gangsters and Tammany Hall pols; and the well-to-do New York Assistant District Attorney, Charles F. Bostwick. The prosecution focuses its entire case on a single victim, 24-year-old Margaret Schwartz. Harris's and Blanck's guilt or innocence hinges on the charred door lock found in the rubble of the ninth floor where Margaret worked—and died. Did the owners deliberately lock the door, which trapped Margaret and her fellow workers inside the blazing inferno? Or if they didn’t, did they know that the door was locked? 

The prosecution’s key witness is 19-year-old Kate Alterman, a sewing machine operator and Margaret’s best friend, who watched her friend burn in front of that locked door. In a flashback, Kate recalls calling for the doors to be unlocked, as the trapped women cried "Save us! Es brennt!" while Max grabbed his daughters out of the elevator, taking them to the roof, and Isaac tried to rescue as many as he could. Under intense cross-examination by the defense attorney, Kate's testimony is discredited. When the jury returns its verdict, Blanck and Harris are acquitted. But it is the victims who have the last word. At the end of the opera, the ghosts of the Triangle workers are joined by the ghosts of other garment workers killed in a 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, reminding us that the lessons of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire have not yet been learned by those who hold the keys to power.

Composer Leonard Lehrman's previous works include A Requiem for Hiroshima (with Lee Baxandall), E.G.: A Musical Portrait of Emma Goldman (with Karen Ruoff Kramer), and Sacco and Vanzetti (with Marc Blitzstein).

Librettist  Ellen  Frankel's  works  include  Women  of  Valor,   The  Esther  Diaries,  R.U.R.,  and  Mothers  of  Moses --with various composers. This is their first collaboration together. 

In order to help underwrite the costs of this production, grants are being solicited and contributions, large & small, are welcome. The program will list supporters of the project in the following categories:  

Sponsor $1000+   Patron $500+    Donor $250+    Contributor $100+    Friend $25+

Checks should be made out to The Prof. Edgar H. Lehrman Memorial Foundation (Fed. ID #11-2916112) and mailed to 33 Court Street, Valley Stream, NY 11580.  Donors receive reserved seats at a performance of their choice.

 To learn more about the opera or to schedule a performance, please contact Leonard Lehrman at 516-825-2939 or <lehrmanfamilyreunion@gmail.com> or Ellen Frankel at <ellen.frankel@gmail.com>.

Flyer designed by Helene Williams

THE TRIANGLE FIRE - 2:30 pm

Price: Free

The Triangle Fire

An Opera in One Act

Libretto by Ellen Frankel

 Music by Leonard Lehrman

A Puffin Foundation commission

starring Alessandra Altieri, David Anchel, David Aubrey, Jackie Bakewell, 

Charles Samuel Brown, Augusta Caso, Bill Castleman, Kevin Courtemanche, Amy Glass, 

 Michael Niemann, Thomas Smith, Michelle Pellegrino Wallace, Nancy Zucker

with The Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus in association with The Bronx Opera

 and  The Solidarity Singers of the New Jersey Industrial Union Council

conducted by the composer

        March 5, 2017: Long Beach Library, 2:30 pm

                   111 West Park Avenue, Long Beach, NY

         March 12, 2017: Community Church, Community Church, 3 pm

                    Park Avenue & W. 35th Street in Manhattan

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in lower Manhattan, killing 146 garment workers, most of them young Jewish and Italian women recently arrived from Europe. It was one of the worst industrial accidents in American history. Ten days later, 400,000 New Yorkers participated in a funeral march honoring the Triangle victims. Public outrage over the dangerous working conditions, including doors locked to prevent worker theft, led to major reforms in New York's and then the nation’s labor laws, and strengthened the growing union movement, which many of the Triangle workers had fought for in a strike two years before. But when Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, the Triangle’s owners, known popularly as “the Shirtwaist Kings,” were put on trial for manslaughter that December, they were acquitted. Blanck and Harris were awarded $400 per victim from their insurance. The victims’ families received an average of $75 in compensation.

This is the first opera ever to focus exclusively on the subject, its aftermath, and the ramifications for today. Focusing on the trial in the courtroom of Judge Thomas Crain, and drawing from the transcript and newspaper accounts, the work explores a human triangle central to this story, with the Triangle Factory’s owners at its apex, and the two trial lawyers on opposing sides: Debating the owners' culpability are defense lawyer Max David Steuer, a Jewish immigrant and former garment worker, who has worked his way up to become “the Million Dollar Lawyer,” favored defender of gangsters and Tammany Hall pols; and the well-to-do New York Assistant District Attorney, Charles F. Bostwick. The prosecution focuses its entire case on a single victim, 24-year-old Margaret Schwartz. Harris's and Blanck's guilt or innocence hinges on the charred door lock found in the rubble of the ninth floor where Margaret worked—and died. Did the owners deliberately lock the door, which trapped Margaret and her fellow workers inside the blazing inferno? Or if they didn’t, did they know that the door was locked? 

The prosecution’s key witness is 19-year-old Kate Alterman, a sewing machine operator and Margaret’s best friend, who watched her friend burn in front of that locked door. In a flashback, Kate recalls calling for the doors to be unlocked, as the trapped women cried "Save us! Es brennt!" while Max grabbed his daughters out of the elevator, taking them to the roof, and Isaac tried to rescue as many as he could. Under intense cross-examination by the defense attorney, Kate's testimony is discredited. When the jury returns its verdict, Blanck and Harris are acquitted. But it is the victims who have the last word. At the end of the opera, the ghosts of the Triangle workers are joined by the ghosts of other garment workers killed in a 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, reminding us that the lessons of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire have not yet been learned by those who hold the keys to power.

Composer Leonard Lehrman's previous works include A Requiem for Hiroshima (with Lee Baxandall), E.G.: A Musical Portrait of Emma Goldman (with Karen Ruoff Kramer), and Sacco and Vanzetti (with Marc Blitzstein).

Librettist  Ellen  Frankel's  works  include  Women  of  Valor,   The  Esther  Diaries,  R.U.R.,  and  Mothers  of  Moses --with various composers. This is their first collaboration together. 

In order to help underwrite the costs of this production, grants are being solicited and contributions, large & small, are welcome. The program will list supporters of the project in the following categories:  

Sponsor $1000+   Patron $500+    Donor $250+    Contributor $100+    Friend $25+

Checks should be made out to The Prof. Edgar H. Lehrman Memorial Foundation (Fed. ID #11-2916112) and mailed to 33 Court Street, Valley Stream, NY 11580.  Donors receive reserved seats at a performance of their choice.

 To learn more about the opera or to schedule a performance, please contact Leonard Lehrman at 516-825-2939 or <lehrmanfamilyreunion@gmail.com> or Ellen Frankel at <ellen.frankel@gmail.com>.

Flyer designed by Helene Williams

Rottwitt Theater, McShain Performing Arts Center, Rosemont College

Mothers of Moses - 7:30 pm

Price: Free

The premiere of a new chamber composition, “Mothers of Moses,” with music by Rene Orth, libretto by Ellen Frankel, will take place in the Rotwitt Theater. The performance will feature students of the Curtis Institute led by the composer. An interfaith symposium with panelists commenting on the libretto text will precede the musical performance. This educational and interfaith outreach program of the College and WSMP is free and open to the public.