On Jan. 14, the Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies and the department of music present Lenka Lichtenburg’s Thieves of Dreams, a project based on recently found books of poetry written by her grandmother, Hana, from when she was imprisoned in a World War II concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.
“Thieves of Dreams is based on my grandma’s poems which are in Czech, and the first version of the stage performance had all the songs in their original Czech. So, the original motivation to include projections was really a necessity — we needed to show translations of all the songs,” says Lichtenburg.
As an immersive, multi-media performance, she brings her grandmother to life for the audience by adding historical photographs and archival footage. “I also had several videos created specifically for the show — including really beautiful sand art videos that help tell the stories. The result is what audience members called an ‘immersive’ experience.”
Noam Lemish, an assistant professor in the department of music, is the Series Coordinator and Artistic Director of Sound and Sense: Jewish Music @ York. He says, “We are proud to be presenting Lenka Lichtenberg’s Thieves of Dreams project. This music speaks so beautifully to the power of love, song and the human spirit in the face of the horrors and brutal violence of the Holocaust.
“It is an honor to welcome her back to York for this concert,” adds Lemish.
Born in Prague, Lichtenburg studied voice and opera as well as sang in musical theatre at the Prague Music Conservatory. Afterwards, she studied musicology in Denmark before immigrating to Canada.
“In Canada, I worked as a musician in rock bands and on cruise ships. I also earned a B.Ed. from the University of British Columbia and a master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from York. I taught music appreciation at the Toronto Metropolitan University for several years, and founded a few bands,” says Lichtenburg.
Thieves of Dreams won Lichtenburg the 2023 Juno Award for Global Music Album of the Year, and will be presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2024. Her work has also been internationally acknowledged with multiple awards and nominations.
“I have multiple projects under my belt, and each one is quite different from the rest. For example, there is a project of my untraditional take on Czech folk music (MASARYK), sacred songs recorded in Czech synagogues (Songs for the Breathing Walls), my original Yiddish songs (Fray, Embrace, Yiddish Journey), and the wonderful collaborations I was honoured to create with others, such as Lullabies from Exile with Yair Dalal or my electronica album, Lenkkodek, with Andrew McPherson,” adds Lichtenberg.
To learn more about Lichtenberg’s work, click here, and to learn more about the presentation of Thieves of Dreams at the Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre, click here.
