Boston, MA August 25, 2022 – Boston public media producer GBH and the Boston Symphony Orchestra will host THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST: An Evening with Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein on Monday, September 12, 2022 at 7:30 pm at Symphony Hall, Boston.
This special event is being presented in connection with the release of THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST, a new three-part documentary directed and produced by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein. The film explores America’s response to one of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century and the humanitarian crisis that followed.
The U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST: An Evening with Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein will feature clips from the film followed by a behind-the-scenes conversation with the filmmakers. Music from the film will be performed live by musicians Kyle Sanna and Johnny Gandelsman, who performed the music in the documentary. The discussion will be moderated by Pam Johnston, general manager of GBH News. Tickets are $15 -$25 and are available now at wgbh.org/events and at the box office at Symphony Hall, Boston.
Inspired in part by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition and supported by its historical resources, THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, the eugenics movement in the United States and race laws in the American south.
The film features interviews with some of the country’s leading scholars on the period, including Daniel Greene, Rebecca Erbelding, Peter Hayes, Deborah Lipstadt, Daniel Mendelsohn, Daniel Okrent, Nell Irvin Painter, Mae Ngai and Timothy Snyder. On-camera witnesses include Susan Hilsenrath Warsinger, Eva Geiringer [Schloss], Joseph Hilsenrath, Marlene Mendelsohn, Sol Messinger and Guy Stern, who recently turned 100 years old.
THE U.S. AND THE HOLOCAUST will air September 18, 19 and 20, at 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET on GBH 2, PBS.org and the PBS Video app. Funding for the U.S. and the Holocaust was provided by Bank of America; David M. Rubenstein; the Park Foundation; the Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation; Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A.Darling; The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations; and by members of The Better Angels Society. Funding was also provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by public television viewers.
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About GBH
GBH is the leading multiplatform creator for public media in America. As the largest producer of content for PBS and partner to NPR and PRX, GBH delivers compelling experiences, stories and information to audiences wherever they are. GBH produces digital and broadcast programming that engages, illuminates and inspires, through drama and science, history, arts, culture and journalism. GBH is the creator of such signature programs as MASTERPIECE, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, FRONTLINE, NOVA, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and Arthur and Molly of Denali and a catalog of streaming series, podcasts and on-demand video. GBH’s television channels include GBH 2, GBH 44, GBH Kids and national services GBH WORLD and Create. With studios and a newsroom headquartered in Boston, GBH reaches across New England with GBH 89.7, Boston’s Local NPR; CRB Classical 99.5; CAI, the Cape and Islands NPR station and as a partner to NEPM in Springfield. Dedicated to making media accessible to and representative of our diverse culture, GBH is a pioneer in delivering media to audience members who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired. With PBS LearningMedia, GBH creates curriculum-based digital content for educators nationwide. GBH’s local programming includes Boston Public Radio, Greater Boston, Stories from the Stage, Open Studio with Jared Bowen, Basic Black and High School Quiz Show. GBH has been recognized with hundreds of the nation’s premier broadcast, digital and journalism awards. Find more information at gbh.org.
About the BSO and Symphony Hall
Home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops, Symphony Hall has been recognized for its outstanding acoustics since its opening in 1900. Symphony Hall has played an integral role not only in Boston’s musical life but in its civic and social life as well, being the site of lectures, debates, mayoral inaugurations, conventions, union meetings, political rallies, commencements, and more. Issues such as women’s suffrage, prohibition, the “red menace,” and the formation of the League of Nations were debated within its walls. Boston’s African American community used Symphony Hall to present touring ensembles and soloists as well as religious conferences, lectures, and school pageants. Guest artists who have graced Symphony Hall’s stage include Louis Armstrong, Emanuel Ax, Maria Callas, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Renée Fleming, Vladimir Horowitz, Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Jessye Norman, Leslie Odom Jr., Itzhak Perlman, and James Taylor.
Led by Music Director Andris Nelsons since 2014, the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave its inaugural concert in 1881. Today the BSO and Boston Pops reach millions of listeners through concert performances at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood, educational and community programs, radio, television, recordings, and tours, as well via streaming on BSO NOW. The 2022-23 BSO season begins on September 22 with Andris Nelsons conducting works by Bach, Holst, Jessie Montgomery, and John Williams with the Lorelei Ensemble and pianist Awadagin Pratt. Symphony Hall also hosts performances and events by such organizations as Celebrity Series of Boston, Handel and Haydn Society, and Boston Speaker Series.
