THE YELLOW TICKET is a live multi-media concert event featuring a new score by violinist Alicia Svigals that reanimates a silent cinema classic. Set in Poland and Tsarist Russia, the 1918 film—starring legendary actress Pola Negri—portrays a woman’s struggle to overcome adversity in a story of secret identities, heroic measures, and triumphant love. Svigals has crafted a lush composition, which she performs live with jazz piano virtuoso Marilyn Lerner. The work is inspired by klezmer and other Eastern European folk traditions, 20th-century classical composers such as Béla Bartók and Ernest Bloch, and contemporary improvisation. The movie will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Joyce Antler, professor of American Jewish History and Culture at Brandeis University; ChaeRan Freeze, associate professor, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University and Women’s and Gender Studies Faculty; Eric Rentschler, professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University; and Alicia Svigals. The conversation will be moderated by Francine Achbar, Executive Director of the New Center for Arts and Culture.

The Yellow Ticket production was commissioned by the Foundation for Jewish Culture’s New Jewish Culture Network, a league of North American performing arts presenters committed to the creation and touring of innovative projects. The Yellow Ticket received its debut at the Washington Jewish Music Festival presented by the Washington DC Jewish Community Center through a commission made possible by the Arthur Tracy “The Street Singer” Endowment Fund. The New Jewish Culture Network has received major support from the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by Sylvia M. Neil, the Milken Family Foundation and other donors.