El Maleh Rachamim Holocaust Memorial Project: 2024 in Review
In January 2024, the El Maleh Rachamim Holocaust memorial project launched its website at www.elmalehrachamim.com.
The composition “El Maleh Rachamim,” written by Baruch Berliner, Nachum Slutzker, and Sergey Krutsenko (RIP), is the soundtrack for the film Address on the Wall recounting the World War II tragedy at Babi Yar.
Throughout 2024, many performers and orchestras recorded their renditions of this composition and filmed music videos to pay tribute and honor the memory of those who perished under the Nazi regime’s inhumane policies. Some of the videos are still undergoing editing and will be released in the new year.
Today, we would like to express our gratitude to everyone who contributed to preserving the memory of Holocaust victims and took part in our project in 2024.
- Ronen Nissan, an Austrian conductor and guitarist, arranged and recorded three versions of the composition for classical guitar.
- Violinist Haik Kazazyan performed the composition with the K&C Chamber Orchestra led by Alexander Gilev and the Portuguese Orchestra Classica Da Madeira conducted by Jose Eduardo Gomes.
- Dmitry Yablonsky and his orchestra, Kyiv Virtuosi, performed an arrangement for cello and orchestra as part of their US tour.
- Cellist Boris Andrianov and the Zagreb Soloists string orchestra presented a version of the composition for cello and string orchestra.
- Cellist Alexander Ramm, conductor Mikhail Kirchhoff, and the Belarusian State Academic Symphony Orchestra performed an arrangement for cello and symphony orchestra.
- Denis Sedov recorded the vocal version of the composition in three languages: Russian, English, and Hebrew.
- Maria Glovko performed a Ukrainian-language version of the composition.
- Violinist Daniel Kogan and the Kostroma Governorate Orchestra conducted by Pavel Gershtein performed a version for violin and symphony orchestra.
- Violinist Nicholas Mann and pianist Elena Matveevskaya presented a version for violin and piano.
- The Blagovest Choir Ensemble, led by conductor Denis Anzigitov and artistic director Galina Koltsova, recorded a Russian-language version for choir.
- Yulia Rusakova presented Evgeny Atsapkin’s composition inspired by “El Maleh Rachamim.”
- Cellist Alexandra Charnomskaya and pianist Daria Kochetkova recorded an arrangement for cello and piano.
- Anna Buturlina and Alexander Nesterov performed a Russian-language vocal duet version.
- Pianist Arina Kirchhoff performed a piano version of the composition.
- The a capella group Total Vocal recorded a vocal version of the composition, arranged by their founder Kineret Erez.
- Choreographer Dmitry Pimonov, the Barynya dance ensemble, and actors from the Maria Savina Actors’ Retreat Theatre created a dance interpretation of the composition.
- DanceWorks Boutique presented a dance interpretation of “El Maleh Rachamim,” choreographed by artistic director Ivica Bago.
- David Edri assisted us with video editing.
- Anastasia Atsapkina created and maintained the website.
We are also grateful to everyone who assisted us and supported the project in 2024.