#symphony orchestra of russia

[beyourselfchulanmaria]

Tchaikovsky Symphony No 7 (by Tchaikovsky Foundation with Pyotr Klimov)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony in E-flat, was commenced after Symphony No. 5, and was intended to be his Sixth Symphony. Tchaikovsky abandoned this work in 1892, only to reuse the first movement in the single-movement Third Piano Concerto, Op. 75, first performed and published after his death in 1895. A reconstruction of the original symphony from the sketches and various reworkings was accomplished during 1951–1955 by Soviet composer Semyon Bogatyrev, who brought the symphony into finished, fully orchestrated form and issued the score as Tchaikovsky's "Symphony No 7 in E-flat major". In 2005, a second reconstruction of the symphony, commissioned by the Tchaikovsky Fund, was completed by Russian composer Pyotr Klimov. It had its first public performance at the Tchaikovsky State House-Museum in Klin, near Moscow, by Symphony Orchestra of Russia led by conductor Tomomi Nishimoto 西本智実, on June 5, 2006, as shown in this video.

00:20 First Movement: Allegro brilliante 13:19 2st Movement: Andante 23:20 3rd Movement: Final Allegro Maestoso 36:30 Tchaikovsky:Andante Cantabile (encore)

[aesthetic---pleasures]

[secular-jew]

Before the 60s "Palestinians" meant Jews. Since the 60s, Arabs decided to call themselves "Palestinians". Be curious, facts are very interesting!

"Palestine" is Judea renamed by Romans.

In 1798, philosopher Immanuel Kant referred to Jews as "Palestinians".

In 1936 a Palestinian Jew Franz Kraus created a famous poster to promote Jewish tourism to the Land of Israel, "Visit Palestine" was written on a poster.

There were many Jewish organizations like the Palestine Post, Palestine Electric Company, and the Palestine Symphony Orchestra. You can google and research everything!

In 1948 after establishment of Israel, Palestinian Jews started calling themselves Israelis. Arabs obviously called themselves Arabs and rejected the term "Palestinian" because it referred to Jews. So no one actually called themselves "Palestinians" from 1948 to 1964.

In 1964 genius Arafat and Soviet Russia decided that Arabs should start calling themselves "Palestinians"!

The purpose was to create impression as if Jews stole the land from Arabs (which obviously never happened). All this was to make the Arabs the "oppressed", because in the West it was already trending to support the "oppressed" and Arafat knew how to use trends.

More proofs and historical facts in the comments.

Note to fact-checkers: if these facts are not correct, I'll be more than happy to see your facts and proofs. And also, facts can't be Islamophobic or hateful.

[ssetchubai]

Guys, where can I sign a petition for the symphony orchestra on the Lies of P?

I will give all my money to come to this orchestra. I understand that because I living in Russia, I can't even hope for this, but just imagine this concert! Music from records, bossfight music... Oh my God, I've already listened to the music from the Black Rabbit Brotherhood bossfight a million times.

Please, I want an orchestra!!!

[mariacallous]

"Carol of the Bells"- Children of War Unite to Perform "Shchedryk", "Carol of the Bells"

In a powerful gesture of solidarity and compassion for the people of Ukraine impacted by Russia’s unprovoked invasion, Pihcintu, a refugee girls’ chorus, in concert with members of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and the Magic of Christmas Chorus based in Portland, Maine and the Mykhailo Verykivsky Kids’ Artschool from Irpin, Ukraine have produced and released a music video for “Carol of the Bells”, to support the children of Ukraine.

“Carol of the Bells” is a beloved Christmas carol, based on the traditional Ukrainian folk song that celebrates the season of rebirth and anticipation of a prosperous New Year.

The song and the video carry a powerful message of empathy, unity and resilience, conveyed by the beautiful voices of young singers from Ukraine and the US, whose families had lived through the horrors of war, being displaced from their homes and the need to experience the basics of life. The music video brings attention to a devastation caused by the war and supports humanitarian relief efforts organized by United Help Ukraine.

Donate to help people and save lives in Ukraine today:

[hayleylovesjessica]

Drop some classical recs, babe!

Okay, this is very weird and idiosyncratic on my part, but one of the first pieces of classical music to get me into that whole genre was String Quartet No. 8 by Dmitri Shostakovich, the preeminent composer of Soviet Russia. In his youth in the 1920s, he was an idealistic communist, but by the 1960s, he was incredibly jaded with the Soviet state. So, as an elder statesman of Soviet cultural life, when he was, at long last, forced by the state to join the Party, he wrote this piece as a su*c!de note. (BTW, the biographical and historical contexts are so important with Shostakovich's music. With him, you can't separate the personal and the political.) The four-note motif that recurs throughout consists of his initials in German musical notation (D-S-C-H), and there are lots of self-quotations from earlier works of his throughout. In the event, he didn't unalive himself, which is a good thing, but in some sense it doesn't matter: It's an absolutely haunting work that's a great intro to Shosti in particular and to chamber music in general.

The recording of Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 made back in the early 1990s by the Kronos Quartet is the greatest that I've ever heard. In fact, the entire KQ album that it appears on, Black Angels, where all the pieces are in some sense about war and atrocity, is fascinating. What's more, all the classic KQ albums from the early to late 1990s are completely worth hearing because they're all thematically conceptualized in some way -- one is an African album (Pieces of Africa), another is a late/post-Soviet album (Night Prayers), one is a medieval and early Renaissance album (Early Music (Lachrymæ Antiquæ)), another is an American album (Howl, U.S.A.), etc.

It's also well worth hearing Shostakovich's large-scale symphonic works, which are vital parts of the 20th-century repertoire, particularly Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, 7, and 10. They've all been recorded so many times. So, for these four symphonies, I recommend the recordings by Neeme Järvi (Nos. 4 and 5), Yuri Temirkanov (No. 7), and Herbert von Karajan (No. 10). Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 is practically a symphony in construction, and most violinists consider among the greatest ever composed, alongside those by Beethoven and Brahms. There are awesome recordings of it featuring the violinists Lisa Batiashvili, Maxim Vengerov (my personal fave), and Nicola Benedetti.

Along with Shostakovich, the other two great 20th-century Russians, Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky, were my point of entry into classical. (I'm leaving out Prokofiev because I just don't think he was as strong, but by God he wrote some great pieces: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, Violin Concerto No. 1, Romeo and Juliet, Piano Sonatas Nos. 6-8.)

With Rachmaninoff, it's all about two things: The first is his Symphony No. 2. There are great recordings by Ivan Fischer, Mikhail Pletnev, and Andre Previn/London Symphony. His Third Symphony and Symphonic Dances are also really good and worth seeking out. The second thing is his piano concertos, especially Nos. 2 and 3 and the work known as the Paganini Rhapsody. These are the Mount Everest of pianists in the classical music world. The best recordings, IMHO, are Krystian Zimerman in No. 2 with Simon Rattle/Berlin Philharmonic, Martha Argerich in No. 3 with Riccardo Chailly/Berlin Radio Symphony, and Daniil Trifonov in the Paganini Rhapsody with Yannick Nézet-Séguin/Philadelphia Orchestra.

As for Stravinsky, most people would say that the four great ballets (The Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring, and Apollo) are the must-hears. They're all SO different from one another, and at the same time, they're all so unmistakably cut from the same musical cloth. I would also add another less-well-known ballet, Les Noces (The Wedding), which was written for chamber choir, four pianos, and lots of percussion (awesome textures, a really cool and fun piece), and the Symphony of Psalms, which is Stravinsky's statement on humanity's relationship with God, mortality, and faith. I'm agnostic, but I find the work extremely moving, as well as endlessly compositionally interesting. Pierre Boulez, who was probably one of the two greatest composer-conductors of the 20th century after Mahler, made what are probably the best Stravinsky recordings. Some prefer his early recordings for Columbia, which later became Sony Classical, but I've always preferred his later recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. With Les Noces, there are two standout recordings, those led by Valery Gergiev and Teodor Currentzis.

Mahler's music is life-changing, period. Bernstein, who was the other greatest post-Mahlerian composer-conductor, is king in this repertoire. Like Boulez and Stravinsky, he began his recording career with Columbia and then moved to DG. I'm just not a big fan of his Columbia Mahler recordings, though mainly because the engineering just doesn't do these works justice. DG's engineers create a sound picture that really lets the glory of these works come through. I started with Mahler's end, his Symphony No. 9, and I have no regrets. It's emotionally and spiritually epic, and at times, its beauty is shattering.

As I said, Bernstein is the way to go when listening to Mahler, but there's one exception, Das Lied von der Erde, a kind of song-symphony that's basically sui generis in the repertoire. Pierre Boulez made a gorgeous recording with the Vienna Philharmonic, Michael Schade, and Violeta Urmana. Better singers have sung the six songs that comprise this work, but no orchestra-conductor tandem has ever played it better, and the way the last chord just hangs in the air, a C major chord with an augmented sixth that never resolves, like a glimpse onto eternity... I have no words...

Jaycee, I could do another post just as long on solo piano music (Bach! Beethoven! Chopin! Liszt! Debussy!), in addition to a long-ass post on OTHER orchestral works. Let me know if you want 'em!

[melthedestroyer]

Guy who just got told about the national symphony that got gender reassignment surgery in Eastern Russia:

You're telling me a Siberian transed this orchestra?

[gorbigorbi]

Evgenia Obraztsova as Anastasia Romanovna (Ivan IV Vasilyevich’s wife), "Ivan the Terrible", choreography and libretto by Yury Grigorovich, music by Sergey Prokofiev (excerpts from music to the film "Ivan the Terrible", "Russian Overture", "Cantata Aleksandr Nevsky", "The Third Symphony", Mikhail Chulaki’s version and additional music excerpts), sets and costume by Simon Virsaladze, Bolshoi Ballet, June 2024 Saint Petersburg's Bolshoi Theatre Ballet Company and Orchestra Tour, Mariinsky Theatre II, Saint Petersburg, Russia (June 12, 2024)

Photographer was not credited by the source of this photograph.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

By ANDREW M. ROSEMARINE

 Israeli orchestral conductor Bar Avni, 34, ended an international women’s conductor contest on a victorious note in the French capital on Sunday, beating out 197 candidates from 47 countries to earn the prestigious title of “La Maestra 2024.”

The contest was inaugurated in 2019 by the Philharmonie de Paris and the Paris Mozart Orchestra. It is open to all ages, and 14 women conductors were selected from across the world to be formal contestants at the final stages, screened live on Arte TV.

The competition, designed to give women conductors a showcase, also gave prizes to the two other finalists — Liubov Nosova, 30, from Russia, and Katarina Morin, 29, from Germany.

Avni’s musical trajectory began in Israel at the age of 8, when she took up the drums. She progressed as a general percussionist, then advanced to conducting in Germany and Israel.

In the competition, she directed the youthful Paris Mozart Orchestra in the last movement of Brahms’s 4th Symphony. According to observers, she conducted with charm, power and determination. Her expressive gesturing won particular plaudits.

[shosty-we-understand]

You may recognize Dmitri Shostakovich in the snazzy sweater on the right, but you may not be as familiar with the rest of his family. Here he is pictured with his son, Maxim.

Maxim has led an interesting life. Born in 1938, he is the second and youngest of Shostakovich's children. He fled his hometown of Leningrad in 1941 with the rest of his immediate family, and spent the majority of his childhood in Moscow. He would take after his father and learned piano as well as conducting, studying at the Leningrad and Moscow conservatories. Maxim would later claim it was hearing his father's seventh symphony when he was four years old that inspired him to study music. He would later become the principal conductor of the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra and would take on the task of conducting the premiere of his father's fifteenth symphony in 1972.

In 1981, six years after his father's death, Maxim and his family defected to West Germany under the Brezhnev government and eventually made their way to the United States. He would continue to champion his father's music, popularizing many of his lesser known compositions.

Maxim has been very successful as a conductor, conducting for symphonies and orchestras in New Orleans, Hong Kong, Seoul, New York City, Rome, Toronto, Liverpool, Goteborg, Dallas, Ottawa, Kyoto, Jerusalem, Florence, Los Angeles, London, and Trondheim, to name a few.

Maxim eventually would return to Russia and settle in his hometown of St Petersburg, and has continued to travel the world conducting various orchestras. He is still alive to this day.

[politikapolka]

Vasily Petrenko welcomed with the Russian flag in Hungary, at List Festi...

A Royal Philharmonic Orchestra vezetŏjét, orosz-ukrán származású Vaszilij Petrenkot brit ÉS orosz zászlóval fogadták a hírhedten oroszcsicska Magyarországon.

Petrenko became principal guest conductor of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation in 2016. In January 2021, the orchestra announced the appointment of Petrenko as its next principal conductor, effective 1 September 2021. In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Petrenko suspended his work with the orchestra, stating:

"In response to these terrible events, I have decided to suspend my work in Russia... until peace has been restored."

[singeratlarge]

SATURDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO: “Daydream Believer” as filmed in May 2010 by PBS at Benedum Theatre in Pittsburgh PA w/Davy Jones, Jessica Pacheco, me, and members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra—this clip has been re-broadcasted many times since 2011 and, to my amazement, keeps on getting buzz. For me this was an auspicious occasion on several counts—including that, for the first time, I played guitar on songs that I usually played bass or keyboards on. The complete set can be heard as a VIP-only album on https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.bandcamp.com/album/davy-jones-goes-to-the-symphony

The full set was broadcast only one time and consisted of: 1) Daydream Believer, 2) Little Bit Me, Little Bit You, 3) Valleri, 4) Girl + 5) I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone in a cameo appearance with Paul Revere & the Raiders. Before everyone went onstage, Paul asked me to nudge Davy into joining them as both The Monkees and The Raiders have a connection to that song. Davy balked at first, but he finally caved in. Elsewhere on this shoot (we were there 2 days) was Jay Black (Jay & The Americans), Roger McGuinn, The Miracles (the classic line-up minus Smokey Robinson), and Gary Lewis & The Playboys w/my friend, drummer Mike Arturi. Also, I was blessed to spend time with Jackie DeShannon (who MC'd) and Chad & Jeremy. The project was produced for PBS by Jim Pierson.

Between 1965-67, “Daydream Believer” had been rejected by 3 bands before reaching The Monkees. The eternally cheerful tune was written by John Stewart, who’d just left The Kingston Trio. Stewart passed the song to his friend, Monkees producer Chip Douglas, who tacked it on as “album filler” during the 1967 sessions for the PISCES AQUARIUS CAPRICORN & JONES album. All four Monkees worked on the track with The Wrecking Crew, with Michael Nesmith doing guitar harmonic stingers, and Peter Tork playing the piano opening that made the song pop. Davy was reticent to sing it as it was cut for a tenor and he was a baritone, but he soldiered through. Then the track was shelved.

Unexpectedly, in October 1967 Colgems Records released “Daydream Believer” as a single and it became a surprise hit for Christmas (like 1000s of kids with “a Christmas story” connected to it, I was given the pic sleeve 45 by my Aunt Lil). The song has since been covered scores of times in eclectic styles, including a punk version by Japanese band Shonen Knife. I calculated that, in his life, Davy must’ve sung it live upwards to 10,000 times. In shows he stuck to the common arrangement, though I heard him do it country style, and we performed it several times with symphony orchestras at pops concerts. In 2000 he and I released a techno-dance version of it, which got some club play in Russia and Scandanavia. Of the many stories Davy could tell about this song, one he liked was when he and Mick Fleetwood played it in the dead of winter at a Norwegian venue near the Arctic Circle. “He was bangin’ away with his mouth hangin’ open, doin’ the Mick Fleetwood beat. Heavy man.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOT0INql6Ws

#monkees #davyjones #daydreambeliever #johnstewart #petertork #cheer #sleepyjean #homecomingqueen #johnnyjblair #sunshinepop #powerpop #concert #PBS #benedumtheatre #pittsburgh #mickfleetwood #colgems

[dustedmagazine]

Morricone Youth — Battleship Potemkin (Country Club)

Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin is a landmark in early cinema, a 1925 silent film of epic scale and ambition, which chronicles a late Tsarist-era mutiny aboard ship that strikes a chord and ignites a full-scale rebellion in the port city of Russia. It is well worth watching, if only for the stunning “Odessa steps” sequence, where the Tsar’s army ruthlessly guns down civilians in sympathy with the striking sailors. The images of a mother begging for her wounded child’s life or a baby in a carriage bumping headlong down the stairs are striking and memorable—and they have special resonance now, when Odessa is again under siege by a Russian army with few qualms about collateral damage.

The film has had a number of scores over the years, the original by Edmund Meisel, one from 1950 by Nikolai Kryukov , and a widely circulated 1975 50th anniversary edition incorporating symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich (that’s the version currently on the Criterion Channel). Eisenstein himself hoped that his movie would be rescored every 20 years, so that its sound would remain relevant to new audiences.

Enter, then, Morricone Youth, a New York City-based orchestra dedicated to live scoring classic films. The ensemble, a sort of bus man’s holiday for musicians in other bands, has performed music for films including David Lynch’s Eraserhead, Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger and George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. The band, which is headed by Devon E. Levins, regularly performs its scores while the film is running in select theaters across the country. It is in the process of recording and releasing these scores. Battleship Potemkin is the latest.

On listening to this excellent soundtrack, with its languid, East European waltzes, its stirring snare-shot battle sequences, its antic re-enactments of rebellion and eventual triumph, you might regret not having the opportunity to hear this music in its rightful setting, a movie theatre. And yet, the music itself is evocative enough to hold your attention. “Vakulinchuk’s Dream” with its bell-like keyboard lines and its soaring trumpet is full of eerie yearning, exactly the sort of thing to embody a sailor’s longing for equality. The syncopated lurch of “Giliarovosky Is Watching,” with its sinuous, near-tango-ing tainted sensuality insinuates danger and trickery. “Cossacks Charge,” the music for that Odessa Steps imagery, snaps to attention on military drum rolls and advances relentlessly on piano motifs. And “Funeral” with its haunting, disembodied voices, is lovely and heartbreaking, exactly as it ought to be.

All of which is meant to say, yes, it’s probably better with the movie, but it’s pretty great with just your speakers and your imagination, too.

Jennifer Kelly

[lesser-known-composers]

Vissarion Shebalin (1902-1963) - Violin Concerto Op. 21 (1940)

I Introduzione e fuga II Aria: Andante - 11:09 III Rondo: Allegro - 19:35

Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Veronika Dudarova, conductor

Andrew Hardy, violin (Violin: Joseph Guadagnini, Cremona 1793)

[beardedmrbean]

Official observations of Finland’s 106th Independence Day began at 9am Wednesday with a flag-raising ceremony on Tähtitorni Hill in Helsinki's Ullanlinna district.

Hoisting the Finnish flag in bright, cold weather were members of a YMCA scout troop from Rastila, eastern Helsinki, accompanied with singing by the Viipurin Lauluveikot. The male choir was founded in 1897 in Vyborg, which is now part of Russia.

Delivering a speech at this year’s flag ceremony was Speaker of Parliament Jussi Halla-aho (Finns).

Independence Day commemorates December 6, 1917, when the Finnish Parliament approved a declaration of independence from Russia that had been issued by the Senate. Finland had been a Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire since 1809. The Senate was led by Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, who became the republic’s third president in the 1930s.

At 10.30, President Sauli Niinistö laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Helsinki's Hietaniemi Cemetery, followed by Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) and the Defence Forces Commander, Gen. Timo Kivinen.

The annual Independence Day parade began in Oulu at noon, organised by the Finnish Army's Kainuu Brigade, which is based in Kajaani.

The parade view from the Raatti Stadium and the march past the Merikoski Bridges at 1pm were broadcast live on Yle channels, while a compilation of the highlights shown later.

Disruption at ecumenical service

Niinistö also took part in a traditional ecumenical service at Helsinki's Lutheran Cathedral at noon. The Lutheran Bishop of Oulu, Jukka Keskitalo, delivered the sermon, and a prayer was read in the indigenous North Sámi language.

Pastor Kari Kanala said in a social media post that the service was briefly disrupted by some attendees seated in an upper loft.

"Palestinian flags, a peace song, etc. I don't know what to think. In any case, we are here praying for peace anyway," he posted on X, adding that the disturbance only lasted for about a minute.

Helsinki Police Chief Commissioner Patrik Karlsson confirmed the incident to Yle. He said that 10 people participated in the protest, dropping two banners expressing support for Palestine from the loft. Police removed two people from the event, telling them they could continue their demonstration outdoors.

Police said they have received notifications of four other demonstrations later in the day, including two that were scheduled to begin at 4pm. A traditional university students' torchlight procession was to begin an hour later.

Sibelius and a TV gala

Beginning at 3pm, the Radio Symphony Orchestra offered an Independence Day concert from the Helsinki Music Centre. Featuring works by Finnish composers Magnus Lindberg, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jean Sibelius, was broadcast live on Yle Teema and Areena, and at 7pm on Yle Radio 1.

The day culminates in the annual ball at the Presidential Palace, which starts at 7pm.

Niinistö and his spouse, Jenni Haukio, host the reception for the 10th and final time. They have hosted it annually since he took office in 2012 except in 2020-21, when it was cancelled due to the pandemic, replaced by modest virtual events. In 2013, the event was held in Tampere as the Presidential Palace was under renovation.

Voting for Niinistö’s successor begins just over a month from now.

The TV and online broadcast of the gala is typically Finland's most-watched media event of the year, sometimes attracting more than 2.5 million viewers.

[mariacallous]

WARSAW, Poland — In the heart of the former Warsaw Ghetto, where Jews were killed and their neighborhood razed during World War II, a Jewish community has never recovered — but a museum has for a decade drawn visitors to learn about their history.

The Polin Museum is marking 10 years since opening its exhibition about the 1,000-year history of Polish Jews. In that lifespan, it rose to fame as one of the world’s leading Jewish museums and a symbol of Poland’s long-deferred recognition of its extinguished Jewish past.

But it also faced down challenges from a government ruled by Poland’s right-wing nationalist Law and Justice party, which sought to remove museum leaders seen as too critical of government policies or unwilling to conform with nationalist versions of history. Law and Justice was overturned by a centrist coalition last year.

During a weekend of anniversary programming in late September, which included a gala, a symphony orchestra concert and curatorial tours, nearly 10,000 people passed through the museum, a modernist building designed by the Finnish firm Lahdelma & Mahlamäki.

Special guests ranged from government officials and museum founders and donors to influential members of Poland’s small Jewish community, including Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and Marian Turski, a 98-year-old historian and Holocaust survivor who presides over the museum council.

The hoopla surrounding Polin’s 10-year anniversary reflects its impact on Poland, a society that only in recent decades has confronted the history of its Jewish community and the 3 million Polish Jews who were killed there under the Nazis. The museum’s name draws from a story about Jews who fled persecution in Western Europe and arrived in Poland during the Middle Ages. According to legend, they heard birds singing “Po-lin,” a transliteration of the Hebrew words for both “rest here” and “Poland.”

Before Germany invaded Poland in 1939, it was one of the most diverse countries in Europe. Jews made up 10% of the total population and a majority in many towns. Warsaw was home to more than 350,000 Jews — about 30% of the city.

After the Nazis killed most of Poland’s Jews, the country came under decades of communist rule. Soviet authorities suppressed Jewish religious and cultural life and folded the Holocaust into an ideological narrative about the Soviets’ total victory over the Nazis — relegating Polish-Jewish history to what scholars call “the communist freezer.” Only in the early 1990s, after the fall of communism, did the idea of the Polin Museum first come into being.

Over 20 years and more than $100 million later, with the help of wealthy American donors and the Polish government, the Polin Museum opened its core exhibit in October 2014.

“For 50 years, people didn’t learn anything about what Polish Jews were about — including Polish Jews,” Schudrich told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “What’s really happened since 1989 is people beginning to learn, and the key pivotal place for that education to take place is here.”

The ambition of Polin was distinct from the memorials at Poland’s slew of concentration camps and Nazi killing centers: This place called itself a “museum of life.”

Only one of the eight multimedia galleries is dedicated to the Holocaust. The rest follow a millennium of Jewish life in Poland, from the first appearance of Jews in the 10th century to the development of Jewish towns; life under Poland’s partition between Russia, Prussia and Austria; waves of pogroms; the birth of modern Jewish social, political and religious movements; and a period of newfound freedoms after World War I, in the Second Polish Republic, all before the devastation wrought by the Holocaust.

A final gallery also traces the post-war years, when a small number of Jews remained in Poland. After a government-sponsored antisemitic campaign in 1968 purged thousands of Jews from the country, only about 10,000 remained. This gallery also looks at a renewed curiosity about Jewish history since the 1990s, which has given rise to festivals of Jewish culture across Poland, many of them organized by non-Jews.

Dariusz Stola, a historian at the Polish Academy of Sciences and the museum’s first director, said that Polin arrived at the perfect time — when interest in the Jewish heritage of Poland was surging at home and interest in the Polish heritage of Jews was surging abroad. (About 70% of the world’s Jews have roots in Poland, according to Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, a professor emerita of New York University and chief curator of Polin’s core exhibit.)

Today the museum has been visited more than 5 million times, with about half of its visitors from Poland and half from other countries. Its collection of accolades includes the European Museum Academy Award and the European Union’s Europa Nostra Award.

“The Polin Museum was an outcome of the opening of Polish society after 1989, of democracy, of certain liberal principles — such as the idea that people are different and we should live together — but it also contributed to these developments,” Stola told JTA.

But the past 10 years have also brought challenges for people who work in education about Poland’s Jewish history. Between 2015 and 2023, a nationalist-conservative government made controlling history a central part of its platform, promising to revive Poland’s pride in its past and eradicate a so-called “pedagogy of shame” — which meant stifling discussions about Polish people who killed Jews or cooperated with the Nazi regime.

In 2018, the country passed a law that outlawed accusing Poland or the Polish people of complicity in the Holocaust. Although its penalty has changed — lawmakers downgraded it from a crime punishable with three years in prison to a civil offense — the law remains in effect today.

Stola was among the casualties of the eight-year government, which accused him of “politicizing” the Polin Museum after an exhibition that documented Poland’s antisemitic campaign of 1968. Stola was pushed out as the director in 2019, despite winning a competition to extend his tenure.

Still, Stola believes that Polin has triumphed in educating the Polish public about the Jewish history in their midst. He pointed out that even those who oppose the museum’s contents have been forced to contend with them.

“There was a moment a couple of years ago, when a group of antisemites made a little campaign online: ‘This is Poland, not Polin,’” Stola said in his remarks at the 10-year anniversary gala. “I’m pretty sure they had never heard the name ‘Polin’ before we opened this museum, so they also learned something.”

For Jews in Poland and abroad, Polin presented an opportunity to learn about Polish-Jewish heritage beyond the most-remembered story of death and destruction. At the Auschwitz memorial in Oświęcim, a regular parade of Jewish students, tourists and officials leaves dizzy with despair — but Polin sought to inspire other feelings, too.

“Many of our Jews in Poland today didn’t even grow up knowing they were Jewish, so one of the challenges is for people to learn about their history — and also have a great sense of being proud,” said Schudrich. “This is a place where someone who has Jewish roots can come and learn, wow, look what my ancestors have created.”

That offering has made the museum some high-profile friends in the United States. The actor Jesse Eisenberg spoke remotely at the gala about visiting Poland to shoot his new film “A Real Pain,” about two cousins who travel there to learn about their grandmother’s Holocaust story, based on his own roots in the country.

Eisenberg joked that when he arrived for filming last year, he was annoyed to see the Polin Museum built on a site he remembered being empty during his first trip to uncover his family history.

“I was initially frustrated because it conflicted with my image of that set from 2008, but when I went in the museum, I was just overwhelmed,” said Eisenberg, who has applied for Polish citizenship. “I cannot wait to go back.”

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, the chief curator, said Polin rose from a demand to understand what vanished from Poland together with most of its Jews. Unlike many other Holocaust museums in Europe, Polin’s founding was not based on a collection of Jewish relics and remains — but on their absence.

“This museum is built on the rubble of the ghetto, on the rubble of the pre-war Jewish neighborhood,” Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, professor emerita at New York University,  said at the gala. “That is for me a very powerful symbol, because we began without a collection. We’ve now formed a collection — we have over 19,000 objects — but our greatest asset wasn’t a collection. Our greatest asset was the powerful story of the largest Jewish community in the world.”