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John Klier (1944-2007) taught in the Hebrew and Jewish Studies Department at UCL from 1989 until his sudden and untimely death in September 2007. He was one of the most innovative and influential historians of East European Jewry and enjoyed an extraordinary degree of respect and affection among his colleagues the world over. Deeply committed to his department and the college more generally, he was well known to many colleagues right across UCL. Not least, he was a loyal supporter of the ASCR, taking part in the first of the Haldane series of events and serving for many years on its committee.
The Committee decided to commemorate his contribution, and his life and achievements more generally, with a short series of concerts, the third of which took place on 23rd June.
John Klier 2010: Shakespeare in Song
In a programme of settings of work by Shakespeare, and among others Marlowe and Herbert, the Mosaic Chamber Choir, under their director Nicholas Robinson, sang works by Rutter, Vaughan Williams, Moeran, Howells and Gershwin.
John Klier 2009: An Evening of Russian Music and Poetry
In June 2009 Professor Robert Service introduced an evening of music by Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Dargomyzhsky and Shostakovich and from the Russian folk song repertoire, and readings from Lermontov and from Yevtushenio's Babi Yar. With Polina Shepherd, voice and piano, Merlin Shepherd, master klezmer musician, Elena Katz, readings, and Helen Beer.
John Klier 2008
The first John Klier Event took place on 22nd May 2008, in its content linking A. E. Housman, after whom the Housman Room is named, with John Klier a long-standing and devoted ASCR member. Cassandra Manning, soprano, and Caroline Jaya-Ratnam, piano, gave a recital of settings by English composers of the poems of A.E. Housman, interspersed with readings of the poems by Jon Shallcross.