Theatre, Music and Art — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

By the mid-19th century, a state art school had been founded in Vilna, under the authority of the St. Petersburg Academy for the Arts. The only criterion for acceptance into the school was the ability to draw. Many young Jews, in particular those from poor homes, studied at the school. A number of famous and talented artists acquired their first experiences there, and some of them were even awarded living and study stipends by the community.

The Vilna Association for the Arts had many Jewish members, including Russians, Poles, Lithuanians and Belarusians. The Association's secretary and one of its founders was Ber Zalkind. At the turn of the century, a school for the applied arts was established in the spirit of the vision of the late sculptor Mark Antokolski.

Following WWI, many artists returned to Vilna from Russia. The Polish Artists' Association founded the art school in the city with the support of the government, and most of its students were Jewish. Vilna University established a faculty for the arts, which also had Jewish students. A Jewish Artists' Association was founded in the city that held individual and group exhibitions. Vilna also hosted exhibitions of Jewish artists from across Poland.

Among the artists who were born or studied in Vilna were Boris (Zalman-Dov) Schatz, future founder of the "Bezalel" Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem; Latvian-born Nahum Aronson who was sent to Vilna to study, and later became famous in Paris; Vilna wood sculptor Zalman Straz a former yeshiva student, who won the backing of a Polish landowner as well as many Polish competitions, and who continued his activities in Moscow during the war; the young sculptor Y. Smorgon, a former yeshiva student and bookbinder by profession, who began sculpting without any formal training, and put on a  personal exhibition that was attended by some 2,000 people; the painters Jacques Lifshitz, Chaim Soutine, Benzion Zuckerman and Lazar Segall; Nissan Treger, the son of a poor tailor, who came to the US and whose busts of former presidents are displayed in the White House; the artist Samuel Bak; and many others.

Jewish Vilna, its passageways and the personalities that roamed them, were the subjects of many works of Jewish artists from Vilna.

Musicians that grew up in Vilna or came to live there turned the city into a centre of Jewish music. Cooperation between musicians and writers resulted in the presentation of a Yiddish opera, for the first time in the world. In 1928, La Traviata was performed by a choir of 30 singers and a symphonic orchestra, and in the following years they staged other operas: Bizet's Carmen in Yiddish (1934); Faust and Verdi's Aida (1938), with the participation of two orchestras comprising 100 musicians. In 1931, the "Vilna Jewish Operatic Company" was founded in the city, which won great acclaim for its Jewish operettas and other performances across Europe.

"The Jewish Society for the Arts" that was founded after WWI opened a popular music conservatory called "The Jewish Music Institute." Ilya Malkin, former teacher of the great violinist Jascha Heifetz, ran the Institute. During its 15 years of existence, the Institute trained 500 musicians. Students participated in national and international competitions, winning prizes. Jews from the larger towns across Poland came to study at the Institute, and some of the students stayed to become teachers there.

Many cultural associations and schools also had choirs and orchestras. The Hebrew Teachers' Seminary, the Yiddish Teachers' Seminary and the Kultur Liga all had their own choirs. The "Vilbig" (Bildungsgesellschaft: Vilna Education Society) amateur choir comprised more than 100 members, among them professional singers. Between 1926 and 1939, the choir performed in 50 concerts, some of them outside the city. During 1938-1939, the "Association for Friends of the Theatre," established in Vilna at the end of the 1920s, supported the Vilna Symphonic Orchestra. The Orchestra held concerts with the "Vilbig" Choir. The Hebrew Gymnasium (high school) also had its own orchestra.

In 1932, a choir was founded by the "Association of Friends of the Reali Gymnasium" of the Vilna Yiddish Education Network. The choir even appeared on Vilna Radio, founded in 1927. From time to time, Jewish singers, choirs and orchestras were featured on the radio, including the "Maccabi" Orchestra, the "Vilbig" Choir, and others.

Vilna produced many male and female singers, as well as famous musicians. At the end of the 19th century, Nieświeżycki, a musical prodigy, appeared. At the age of five, Nieświeżycki was already playing the piano, could read scores and had been found to have perfect pitch. His father, a cantor from the townlet of Raseiniai (Raseiņi), brought him to Vilna to study at the School for Music. After completing his studies, Nieświeżycki began to teach piano, and in 1922 he emigrated to Eretz Israel. There he changed his name to Aryeh Avilea, and later became a music professor. The violinist Jascha Heifetz was born in Vilna in 1901. Vilna was also the birthplace of other talented violinists, pianists and viola players.

Vilna was the home to Jewish theatres, drama circles and an association for Jewish theatre.

In the 1920s, the "Amateur Theatre," run by Nahum Lipovski, operated in Vilna, alongside the "Drama and Opera Troupe," the "Yiddish Folk Theatre," and the "Vilna Troupe" – the most famous and talented of all the troupes – that staged dramatic performances as well as children's shows until the invasion by the Red Army in 1920. Afterwards, the Vilna Troupe moved to Warsaw, but returned to perform in Vilna.

Until 1923, a drama studio operated in Vilna run by the Association for the Arts. Twenty-five people completed their studies at the studio, receiving a certificate accrediting them as actors. Indeed, almost all of them became professional actors. The Arts Association held balls at which the studio's students performed on sets painted by artists. The Association also supported the establishment of the "Jewish Theatre for Drama and Comedy," in which local actors appeared alongside more famous performers.

Drama circles operated in conjunction with organizations and schools. Those that put on performances included the "Undzer Vinkel" (Our Corner) Drama Circle connected to the tradesmen's association; the circle connected to the "Borochov Association"; and students of the Yiddish seminar for teachers. Plays included Salome by Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and The Golddiggers by Shalom Aleichem.

At the end of the 1920s, the feeling arose that the city was staging below-standard performances, and the "Association of Friends of the Theatre" was established. The Association supported local troupes, and pledged to stage first-rate shows, establish a theatre studio and invite quality troupes from outside the city, such as the Vilna Troupe from Warsaw. For a short while, the Association even managed to secure support from the municipality for the city's theatre. The Association held a number of cultural activities connected to theatre: publishing an article by a veteran actor about Shylock and Shakespeare; holding celebrations for veteran actors; initiating a national conference of Jewish theatre associations; and even instigating the building of a Jewish theatre hall in the city.

In 1928, two theatre halls operated in Vilna: "Azazel", dedicated at the successful performance of a Jewish opera, and "Palace" that changed its name to the Polish "Nowości". The city also boasted a children's theatre and a puppet theatre called "Meydim" – the only permanent Jewish puppet theatre in Poland. In 1933, the Cameri Theatre performed "Davka" with 35 actors. Every year the theatre presented an artistic program. At the beginning of the 1930s, the "Jung Vilna Theatre", comprising two amateur groups, operated in the city.

The "Tarbut (Culture)" Union established "Habima Haivrit (The Jewish Stage)," which presented performances by David Pinski, Itzhak Katzenelson, Shalom Asch and Y. D. Berkowitz. Following Berkowitz's play, young people sang the Hatikva. After Habima Haivrit ceased its activity, drama circles connected to the Hebrew Teachers' Seminary, the Hebrew Gymnasium and Zionist youth organizations were convened.

A visit by the Habima Theatre from Moscow in 1926 inspired the establishment of the studio for amateur theatre – "The Jewish Drama Studio" – whose actors were students at the Hebrew Gymnasium, other students, members of the "Hashomer Hatzair" drama circle, and other amateur thespians. Some actors from the Polish "Radota" Theatre assisted the theatre voluntarily. Theatre supporters organized the "Association for Jewish Theatre." The "Studio for Hebrew Drama" put on performances on Jewish and more general topics in Vilna and many other towns across Poland, and even broadcast a number of plays on Vilna Radio. After the studio closed, its students worked as actors and organized performances by the Jewish schools and youth movements.

In the decade preceding WWII, many troupes performed in the city, including "The National Jewish Stage," the Warsaw "Operetta" Troupe, "Ararati" from Lodz, the A. Samberg Troupe, "Yiddishe Bande," M. Broderson's "Yehudi Balagan," (A Messy Jew) and the "Jung Theatre" from Warsaw, which later in 1937 moved to Vilna under the name "New Theatre," and other operettas and well-known actors. In 1938-1939, "New Theatre" in Vilna staged more than 20 performances, 18 of which were for children.

From: YadVashem