{"id":42509,"date":"2023-10-27T01:47:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T08:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=42509"},"modified":"2023-10-26T17:09:48","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T00:09:48","slug":"trauma-loss-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/10\/27\/trauma-loss-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Trauma, loss and hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Composer Rita Ueda has written an opera inspired by Barbara Bluman\u2019s book I Have My Mother\u2019s Eyes. (photo by Danilo Bobyk)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of what is happening in the news today, we need to tell the story of Chiune Sugihara and the Bluman family more than ever,\u201d composer Rita Ueda told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cI suspect more and more world leaders, communities and individuals will be faced with the decision to either do the easy thing, or the right thing. We need to tell ourselves more stories of compassion, courage, healing and family love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ueda\u2019s chamber opera I Have My Mother\u2019s Eyes: A Holocaust Memoir Across Generations<\/em> premi\u00e8res at the Rothstein Theatre Nov. 18-19, as part of the Chutzpah! Festival. Directed by Heather Pawsey, the opera tells the story of Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who risked his own life during the Holocaust to issue visas to Jews, including members of Vancouver\u2019s Bluman family. Its title comes from the late Barbara Bluman\u2019s book of the same name, which was published in 2009, five years after her death from cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I fully knew why I wanted my mother\u2019s book published \u2026 when I immersed myself in this legacy project,\u201d said Danielle Schroeder. \u201cLooking back, bringing her story and my grandmother\u2019s stories to life brought me a lot of comfort and meaning as I grappled with the profound sense of loss her death brought\u2026. Also, at the time it was published, stories about the impact of intergenerational trauma and resilience were not being written about that much in the mainstream, so I felt my mom\u2019s book was unique in the way it interweaves and interconnects her and her mother\u2019s stories of trauma, loss and hope. And, of course, being able to share with the world the story of courage, generosity and compassion of the Sugihara family was also important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ueda found out about the Bluman family in 2017, through an installation at the Maritime Museum, and reached out to George Bluman, Barbara\u2019s brother. She was moved by the intergenerational nature of I Have My Mother\u2019s Eyes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cZosia [Susan] Bluman\u2019s escape from the Holocaust is only a part of the story,\u201d she said. \u201cThe story of how the next two generations carried on the family legacy affected me to the core. When George suggested I expand the opera to include the story of the three generations of the Sugihara family that saved them, I became compelled to create the opera!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very touched and honoured that such a well-respected Canadian composer would want to write an opera about my mom\u2019s book,\u201d said Schroeder. \u201cEspecially after meeting Rita in person and learning \u2026 how my mom\u2019s book impacted her, it was easy to say \u2018yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ueda\u2019s opera is inspired by Barbara Bluman\u2019s book, rather than based on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpera is best suited to convey the characters\u2019 emotional journey,\u201d Ueda explained. \u201cThe opera covers all three characters from the book \u2013 Zosia, Barbara and Danielle \u2013 the three generations of the Bluman women, and their love for each other in light of all the events in their lives. Materials on the three generations of the Sugihara family were based on my two visits to the Sugihara family in Tokyo. Madoka Sugihara spent over five hours with me on each visit, and she showed me many photos and books. She let me play [her grandfather] Chiune Sugihara\u2019s collection of sheet music on his piano, and she told me many family stories. I was truly moved by the two families\u2019 journey of survival, healing, and love for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Bluman shared a bit about the real-life people depicted: Zosia, Barbara and Danielle on the Bluman side and Chiune, Yukiko, Hiroki and Madoka on the Sugihara side.<\/p>\n

Bluman\u2019s mother was born in 1920 and died in 2004. \u201cHer story, before coming to Vancouver in July 1941, comes to life in I Have My Mother\u2019s Eyes<\/em>,\u201d he said. \u201cIn Vancouver, she worked as a salesperson\/buyer in women\u2019s clothing at Cordell\u2019s and Jermaine\u2019s. She was one of the founders of the annual Warsaw Ghetto memorial program, the forerunner of the current annual Yom Hashoah commemoration. Mum is featured in the 2000 PBS documentary Sugihara Conspiracy of Kindness<\/em>, as well as in the Holocaust museums in Washington, New York and Los Angeles. She loved her family, hosting raucous weekly Sunday dinners for all, often including her children\u2019s friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sister, Barbara Bluman (1950-2001), graduated from UBC Law School in 1975, among the first large class of women. She was an independent thinker and feminist who lovingly balanced raising her children and her career in law. Her commitment to human rights was demonstrated in all of her pursuits\u2026. Her deep dedication to Holocaust understanding led to her contribution to the Gesher Project, a second-generation cultural exploration of the Holocaust, and organizing an important symposium on the Nuremberg trials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bluman said that, from 1996 to 2000, his sister made notes from 19 interviews with their mother. \u201cExcerpts from these notes formed the basis for her book,\u201d he said, praising his niece\u2019s efforts in getting the book published.<\/p>\n

\u201cYukiko Sugihara (1913-2008) married Chiune Sugihara (1900-1986) in 1936,\u201d said Bluman. \u201cIn 1993, my family first met her, together with her oldest son, Hiroki (1936-2002), and Michi (Hiroki\u2019s wife) for a few hours at the Vancouver airport during a stopover on their way to a dinner in Toronto organized by Ontario Premier Bob Rae involving the Jewish and Japanese communities. There was a spontaneous outpouring of strong emotions. To me, in her demeanour, she was an empress! She knew no English and I no Japanese, but I felt what she was saying. My mum and Barbara attended the dinner in Toronto, where the principal guest speaker was David Suzuki.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were a few other encounters, and Bluman said he and his brother Bob have corresponded regularly with Madoka. \u201cI have met her twice in visits to Japan,\u201d said Bluman, noting that Bob joined him on the second visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadoka is a very gracious person and works passionately on making the world aware of the heroic legacy of her grandparents. According to Madoka, her grandmother Yukiko played a most essential role in the Sugihara story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ueda\u2019s opera is \u201cespecially meaningful,\u201d said Schroeder, \u201cbecause it brings my mother back to life and honours her in such a profound way.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be here if it wasn\u2019t for the Sugihara family, so to see a piece of art be created that brings our family together is moving beyond words.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Teiya Kasahara as Yukiko Sugihara and Barbara Ebbeson as Zosia Bluman in I Have My Mother\u2019s Eyes, which is part of the Chutzpah! Festival. (photo by Flick Harrison)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It has taken seven years to get to this point \u2013 the opera\u2019s premi\u00e8re.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge and Danielle have been wonderful to work with,\u201d said Ueda. \u201cThey have shown me photos (which you will see in the production) and shared family stories with me. They also introduced me to the wonderful Sugihara family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ueda shared \u201ctwo fun facts\u201d: George Bluman, an emeritus math professor at UBC, trained her brother, a former math professor himself; and she has received permission to turn Yukiko Sugihara\u2019s Midnight Sun Songs<\/em>, poems that chronicle her story as the wife of Chiune Sugihara, into a sequel to I Have My Mother\u2019s Eyes<\/em>. The world premi\u00e8re will be in Tokyo in October 2024.<\/p>\n

Ueda has been composing since she was a toddler. \u201cMy late mother was an opera singer, so I grew up in a household with music,\u201d she said. \u201cMy early musical \u2018scores\u2019 were crayon drawings of picture-representations of the sounds I improvised at the piano. My very first composition teacher when I was 3 (who was about 95 at the time) encouraged me to improvise at the piano and to keep on \u2018drawing\u2019 scores in crayon colours, even though his own teachers in the 1880s were Helmholtz and Tchaikovsky. He also arranged for me to see many concerts and events with composers such as Steve Reich, Earle Brown and John Cage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The environment, human rights and other societal issues have inspired Ueda\u2019s work. \u201cPeople in the audience do not need to agree with what I say in my music, but I want them to use the experience as a catalyst for important community dialogue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Ueda, opera is the perfect medium for telling a story with a strong emotional content.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpera cannot deliver a blow-by-blow story like a TV drama, film or documentary,\u201d she acknowledged, \u201cbut music combined with voice can speak to you at the deepest, most profound level. Through opera, I hope to tell engaging and relevant stories that are important to us \u2013 who we are, what we stand for, and what we believe in. European opera has had a history of elitism throughout the past 400 years, but recent Canadian opera productions have been changing this. I hope I Have My Mother\u2019s Eyes<\/em> will contribute to this change.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tickets to see I Have My Mother\u2019s Eyes<\/em>, visit chutzpahfestival.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Composer Rita Ueda has written an opera inspired by Barbara Bluman\u2019s book I Have My Mother\u2019s Eyes. (photo by Danilo Bobyk) \u201cIn light of what is happening in the news today, we need to tell the story of Chiune Sugihara and the Bluman family more than ever,\u201d composer Rita Ueda told the Independent. \u201cI suspect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42511,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[22690,573,22692,4815,53,7906,6540,22689,22691],"class_list":["post-42509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-barbara-bluman","tag-chutzpah-festival","tag-danielle-schroeder","tag-george-bluman","tag-holocaust","tag-intergenerational-trauma","tag-opera","tag-rita-ueda","tag-sugihara"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}