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S52E1

Émigré: A Musical Drama with the NY Phil

Premiere: 10/25/2024 | 0:30 |

Enjoy this semi-staged oratorio with the New York Philharmonic and an international cast telling the story of Jewish refugees in World War II Shanghai set to music by Aaron Zigman with lyrics by Mark Campbell and additional lyrics by Brock Walsh.

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About the Episode

The New York Philharmonic and an international cast perform this semi-staged oratorio that tells the story of Jewish refugees during World War II. Following 1938’s Kristallnacht, two brothers are sent halfway around the world to Shanghai to escape the Nazis. Otto cherishes his heritage, while Josef seeks a new path and falls in love with Lina, a Chinese woman recovering from the death of her mother in the Nanjing Massacre. A tale of love and loss directed by Mary Birnbaum and conducted by Long Yu, Great Performances – Émigré: A Musical Drama with the NY Phil is set to music by film and concert composer Aaron Zigman with lyrics by Grammy-winning librettist Mark Campbell and additional lyrics by Brock Walsh. Co-commissioned by Maestro Long Yu, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, the 90-minute production was filmed on February 29 and March 1, 2024, at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic. Great Performances – Émigré: A Musical Drama with the NY Phil premieres Friday, October 25 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/gperf and the PBS app.

 

Talent:

  • Aaron Zigman – Composer
  • Mark Campbell – Lyrics
  • Brock Walsh – Additional lyrics
  • Mary Birnbaum – Stage director
  • Michael Beyer – Director for television
  • Long Yu – Conductor
  • Laura Stanfield Prichard – Dramaturge
  • Matthew White – Otto Bader
  • Arnold Livingston Geis – Josef Bader
  • Huiling Zhu – Li Song
  • Meigui Zhang – Lina Song
  • Shenyang – Wei Song
  • Diana Newman – Tovah Odesska
  • Andrew Dwan – Yaakov Odesska
  • New York Philharmonic Chorus – Jewish refugees, Shanghai citizens, and more
  • Kristen Robinson – Scenic designer
  • Oana Botez – Costume designer
  • Yuki Nakase Link – Lighting designer
  • Joshua Higgason – Projection designer
  • Krystal Balleza, Will Vicari – Hair and Makeup designers

 

Noteworthy Facts:

  • Composer Aaron Zigman is a classically trained American composer, producer, arranger, songwriter, and musician who has scored music for films including “The Notebook,” “The Company Men,” “Bridge to Terabithia,” “John Q.,” “The Proposal,” “For Colored Girls,” “Sex and the City” and many more.
  • Conductor Long Yu is the Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director & Chief Conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Principal Guest Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
  • The work is a co-commission with Maestro Long Yu, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.
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SERIES OVERVIEW

For more than 50 years on PBS, Great Performances has provided an unparalleled showcase of the best in all genres of the performing arts, serving as America’s most prestigious and enduring broadcaster of cultural programming. Showcasing a diverse range of artists from around the world, the series has earned 67 Emmy Awards and six Peabody Awards. The Great Performances website hosts exclusive videos, interviews, photos, full episodes and more. The series is produced by The WNET Group. Great Performances is available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on PBS.org and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.

 

PRODUCTION CREDITS

A production of Deutsche Grammophon and Bernhard Fleischer Moving Images in collaboration with the New York Philharmonic, Emigre: A Musical Drama with the NY Phil was directed for television by Michael Beyer; Bernhard Fleischer and Julie Kim are Executive Producers. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is series producer and David Horn is executive producer.

FUNDING

Series funding for Great Performances is provided by The Joseph & Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, the Thea Petschek Iervolino Foundation, the Abra Prentice Foundation, Inc., Jody and John Arnhold, The Starr Foundation, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Leni and Peter May, Seton J. Melvin, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, the Blanche and Hayward Cirker Charitable Trust, the Estate of Worthington Mayo-Smith, Ellen and James S. Marcus, and The Sylvia A. and Simon B. Poyta Programming Endowment to Fight Antisemitism.

TRANSCRIPT

♪♪ -Next, on "Great Performances"...

The U.S. premiere of a new musical drama tracing the odyssey of two Jewish brothers fleeing Nazi Germany, traveling across the globe to Shanghai, where there is refuge and hope for the future.

-♪ Josef, may I show you Shanghai?

♪ -A co-commission of the New York Philharmonic and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, "Emigré" features an international cast performing a score by Aaron Zigman, with a libretto by Grammy-winning lyricist Mark Campbell.

Shanghai Symphony Music Director Long Yu leads the New York Phil in a sweeping tale of love and loss.

"Emigré," a musical drama with the New York Phil, is next.

♪♪ Major funding for "Great Performances" is provided by... ...and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

[ Horn honking ] ♪♪ -In 1938, a rash of anti-Semitic violence spread throughout Europe, and an urgent wave of Jewish people fled persecution from the Nazi regime.

Immigrant quotas made it difficult to enter most countries, but Shanghai, China, was one of the rare exceptions, an open point of entry for immigrants.

-"Emigré" is a story of a miraculous time, where the government and the people of China harbored about 20,000 Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe.

-It is an amazing story, which in the history, myself is Shanghainese.

So, it's been a long time I want to bring the story to the public.

-China was not without its own strife and serious conflicts.

The 1937 Battle of Shanghai had resulted in Japanese occupation and led to the Nanjing Massacre and the murder of hundreds of thousands of Chinese.

-I never quite knew about this history, so it kind of gave me another layer of what was going on in China in the time.

-The actual story of the show is a romance between two brothers in the city.

One of the brothers that emigrates falls in love with a Chinese woman, and the other brother falls in love with a Jewish woman who's been an earlier wave of émigrés.

-It was first actually approached maybe to do an opera.

But then it kind of segued into an oratorial fairly quickly.

But I knew there needed to be of course a narrative.

And to me it made sense to make this a multicultural love story with subtle political themes going on, on the backdrop.

-I think the thing that's tricky is the piece is about migration and displacement.

And in a concert hall, you only have so many places you can go.

And so, there's actually a song in the piece called "Nowhere to Go," and it's ironic because there isn't a lot of room to move around.

But then you strategize, okay, where are the places, the alleyways and the arteries through the city that we can create?

-And during their stay in Shanghai, a lot of Jewish musicians joined the city life, to be the musicians in the orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, which I'm music director of this orchestra.

If you see the history, during the wartime, it was 80% of the musicians were the Jewish musicians in the orchestra.

So, as musicians we have the duty that we'll bring something besides the classical music.

We also need to do something for our time, to do something for our life, also for all centuries.

-The import of the story is about citizens of the world protecting each other when our governments fail to do so.

-♪ Light a flame ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪ [ Slow-tempo introduction plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Tempo quickens ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Look ahead, look ahead ♪ ♪ Look ahead, look ahead ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Look ahead, look ahead ♪ ♪ Look ahead, look ahead ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ La-la, la-la-la la-la, la-la-la ♪ ♪ La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la ♪ ♪ La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ♪ ♪ La-la, la-la-la la-la, la-la-la ♪ ♪ La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la ♪ ♪ La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ♪ ♪ La-la, la-la-la la-la, la-la-la ♪ ♪ La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la-la ♪ ♪ La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ And the world is one big house ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Tempo quickens ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Tempo slows ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Tempo quickens ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Tempo slows ] ♪♪ [ Tempo quickens ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Shoulan tongbao?

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Tempo quickens ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Here in a perfect world ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Brother... ♪ -♪ Father... ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] [ Up-tempo introduction plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Tempo slows ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Tempo quickens ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Light a flame ♪ ♪ All of us must do the same ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] -To find out more, visit pbs.org/greatperformances, find us on Facebook, and follow us on X.

[ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause ] [ Cheers and applause ]