Evan Kahn and Aileen Chanco play Korngold

 "Much Ado About Nothing Suite", Opus 11. 

This week is the start of the Jewish New Year, a time of reflection, repentance and forgiveness.

In that spirit, I want to share this "private" video of our son Evan Kahn performing a cello duet written by Erich Korngold, with Aileen Chanco on piano.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897 – November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born composer and conductor. After moving to Los Angeles, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. A child prodigy, he was having compositions performed by major orchestras and pianists by the age of 13. By 1931 he was a professor of music at Vienna State Academy.

At the request of director Max Reinhardt, and due to the rise of the Nazi regime, Korngold moved to the U.S. in 1934 to write music scores for films. He was one of many Jewish immigrants that moved to escape Nazi persecution and probable death. "Much Ado About Nothing Suite" was composed when Korngold was 21 years old, and here it is adapted for piano and cello.