Last update - 00:00 08/10/2007
Galicia's last klezmer arrives
Leopold Kozlowski, the last link in a dynasty of klezmer musicians from Galicia, has arrived in Israel, and the Ra'anana Symphonette Orchestra will host a special concert in his honor tonight. The event is orchestra director Orit Fogel's brainchild.
The 90-year-old pianist, composer and conductor hid in the forests during the Holocaust after his family was murdered. After the war, he married a Polish woman, became a leading figure in the world of light music in communist Poland and, among other things, directed the military orchestra in Krakow and established a Roma troupe that played Gypsy and Jewish music in Poland and international tours.
He then served as the artistic director of the Jewish Theater in Warsaw, wrote music for plays and films, edited the Polish version of "Fiddler on the Roof" and appeared in the film "Schindler's List."
Kozlowski's wife died years ago and he remained in Krakow with his daughter to preserve the Jewish musical heritage. His life story was the basis for the feature-length film, "The Last Klezmer," which was also screened on Israeli television.
This riveting film, which was produced around 20 years ago, shows Kozlowski returning to his childhood home in the town of Przemyslany, near Lvov (now in the Ukraine), where he meets an elderly woman whose mother taught him to play the piano when he was a child.
He also wanders through the forest where his brother was murdered just two weeks before the Red Army arrived. Kozlowski's original name was Ben Zvi Kleinman and his klezmer grandfather's name was Pesach Brandwein.
At the end of the film, he says that at his age, he cannot start a new life in Israel or America and plans to stay in Poland. Some of Kozlowski's exploits and daring during World War II are also described in the book "Al Pi Ha'bor" ("Smoke in the Sand"), Eliyahu Yones' comprehensive book about the Holocaust years in the Lvov area.
The concert today, which was arranged with the assistance of the National Council for Yiddish Culture, the Polish Embassy in Israel and the Israel-Poland Friendship Association, is dedicated entirely to Jewish music. David Sebba will conduct and there will be performances by soloists.
There will also be a discussion with the elderly Kozlowski, who is in excellent physical and mental health. Clips from "The Last Klezmer" will also be shown at the event and the conductor Jacob Hollander's Zemer Lach choir will also perform. It all happens tonight at the Ra'anana Municipal Music and Arts Center.