Jewish violinist honored with a plaque in heart of Shanghai
Ferdinand Adler (1903-1952) was among the 400-odd Jewish musicians who sought refuge in Shanghai and brought classical music with them in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra paid tribute to Jewish violinist Ferdinand Adler (1903-1952), the orchestra's concertmaster in the 1940s, with a new memorial plaque on Fuxing Road and a live performance of Hebrew Melody by the orchestra's current concertmaster, Liu Ming.
On his 120th birth anniversary on May 6, Adler, who was one of the more than 400 Jewish artists who sought safety in Shanghai during World War II and brought traditional music with them, was honored.
"I'm very proud and honored that my father is still being remembered in Shanghai, 71 years after he passed away," the violinist's daughter, Christina Adler, 78, said in a video message from Austria.
Christina was born in Shanghai in 1945 and moved to Vienna with her father when she was two years old. The musician's daughter was especially pleased in 2017 when she learned about the orchestra's European tour, which included concerts in Austria.
She went to the concert with a 400-page booklet that contained all of Adler's programs in Shanghai as well as all of the concert reviews in newspapers at the time.
In a video message from Austria, Christina Adler, daughter of Ferdinand Adler, expressed her gratitude and thanks to the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra for its tribute to the Jewish violinist.
The previous plaque of her father lacked details such as his year of birth and death. Over the years, however, research and interest in Jewish musicians who sought refuge in Shanghai, uncovered previously unknown details.
Adler was arrested and spent time at the infamous Dachau Concentration Camp after Hitler annexed Austria. In 1939, he fled to Shanghai, where he was subsequently named concertmaster of the Shanghai Municipal Orchestra, the predecessor to the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
Throughout his tenure in Shanghai, he taught violin at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
After returning to Vienna in 1947, Adler resumed his musical career and eventually became concertmaster of the Vienna State Opera orchestra. He died of a heart attack during a rehearsal in 1952.
Many of his Chinese pupils went on to become musicians themselves and never forgot him.
Violinist Sheng Mingliang, a former student of Adler, was so appreciative that his son, Sheng Fang, founded The Adler Project in 2017 "as a personal quest to search for my father's violin teacher."
The initiative has evolved into one "dedicated to the Jewish refugee musicians who were exiled in Shanghai during World War II, as well as to their Chinese students, many of whom became professional musicians and laid the groundwork for Chinese classical music."
The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Liu Ming plays the Hebrew Melody as a tribute to the former concertmaster Ferdinand Adler (1903-1952).
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Editor: Fu Rong
Designer: Melo ZhangWriter: Yao MinjiPhoto: Ti Gong
Source: Shine