OCTOBER 5 • 2023 | 23
J
N

continued on page 24

Sonatas. This is a Broadway-style new 
musical under development in New York 
City, and we are excited to give everyone 
a special behind-the-scenes preview. A 
concert version of this musical had its 
world premiere in Beverly Hills back 
in March, and we are now bringing the 
instrumental music that inspired the 
musical to Shaarey Zedek.

JN: Tell us about how you learned 
about the Jewish refugee experience in 
Shanghai and how it inspired you to 
create this work.
Gao: I’m originally from Beijing, 
China, and now live in the United States 
permanently. When I went to Shanghai 
in 2018, I visited the Shanghai Jewish 
Refugees Museum and learned about the 
20,000 Jews who escaped Nazi Germany 
in the late 1930s. 
Among the Jews who escaped, there 
were a few hundred musicians, and 
some of them were classical musicians 
who taught local Chinese kids and 
brought European classical music to 
China during that time and influenced 
some of the first generation of Chinese 
classical music pioneers. I am one of 
the third generation of Chinese classical 
musicians.
These Jewish refugee musicians created 
a ripple effect, unifying the cultures 
and demonstrating the unifying power 
of classical music. I thought that was a 
beautiful story, so we started creating 
this hybrid musical that features musical 
genres from classical music to Chinese 
music, Jewish music to crossover, jazz 
and Broadway music — something for 
everyone. 
My dream is for this to be staged 
on Broadway, to share stories of the 
Jewish ghetto in Shanghai, and how the 
Chinese and the Jews came together 
to build a common culture as a result 
of their shared adversity. Despite the 
horrible conditions in the Jewish ghetto 
of Shanghai, music saved their lives in a 
way.

JN: How did you draw upon your 
musical and cultural background in 
creating Shanghai Sonatas?

Gao: I’m a classically trained violinist. 
I’m also a proud alumnus of the 
University of Michigan School of Music, 
Theater & Dance that I attended in the 
early 1990s. Prior to that, I attended the 
Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing 
to study classical music. I have always 
enjoyed promoting cultural exchange 
between the East and West, bringing 
Chinese traditional music to Western 
audiences. 
Shanghai Sonatas has enabled me 
to bring forth different cultures and 
musical genres. Some of the songs 
from the Shanghai Sonatas musical 
are deeply rooted in my classical 
training, influenced by composers 
like Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Brahms and 
Dvorak, while others showcase the 
Chinese music that the Jewish musicians 
and refugees heard when they arrived 
in Shanghai. Some of the Jewish refugee 
musicians later even composed music to 
crossover into the Chinese genre. 
In the musical, I was also able to 
showcase my love for American music, 
jazz and musical theater. 
 
JN: Tell us about your Michigan roots 
and the guest artists who will be joining 
you Oct. 19. 
Gao: Michigan was my home for 
almost 10 years. Other than where I 
live now, the University of Michigan 
was the place where I lived the longest 
since I immigrated to the United 
States. Michigan is also where I met my 
American parents, Rich and Susan Rogel, 
who are both inspiring philanthropists. 
I’m very honored to have 
four artists from the U-M 
School of Music, Theater & 
Dance perform with us on 
Oct. 19. Faculty violinist 
Aaron Berofsky, who is also 
the concertmaster of the Ann 
Arbor Symphony, will be 
joining us as well as his wife, 
faculty violinist and violist 
Kathryn Votapek. We are 
also featuring two student 
performers and upcoming 
stars from U-M: Yun Han, a 
cellist originally from Taiwan 

A LITTLE 
HISTORY….

Shanghai was known as the 
“Paris of the East” — many for-
eigners flocked to Shanghai to 
live and to vacation. Shanghai 
was controlled by foreign pow-
ers rather than the Chinese 
government — France, Britain, 
and the U.S. each demanded 
their own autonomous dis-
tricts. Even when Japan invad-
ed China in 1931 and seized 
control of Shanghai in 1937, 
this port city was still consid-
ered open to anyone who 
could afford to get there. 
The Jewish refugees who 
emigrated to Shanghai in the 
late 1930s could enter with 
only a boat ticket. Fang-Shan 
Ho, dubbed the “Chinese 
Schindler,” risked his career to 
issue visas to many Austrian 
Jews while he served as 
Chinese Consul in Vienna. The 
refugees were initially wel-
comed by other Jews (many 
of whom were Russian) who 
had been coming to Shanghai 
since the mid-1800s.
Approximately 20,000 
European Jews, primarily 
German and Austrian, trav-
eled to Shanghai between 
1938 and 1941. As Japan 
exerted more control on the 
city after the invasion of Pearl 
Harbor, the Jewish refugees 
were forced into a 1-square- 
mile working-class district, 
Hongkou, where multiple fam-
ilies shared a single apartment 
and indoor plumbing was a 
rare privilege. 
The refugees tried to re- 
create the community they 
had in Europe and practiced 
their professions, including 
musicians who introduced the 
Chinese to classical music. 
After the war, many Shanghai 
Jews moved to Israel, North 
America, Australia or back to 
Europe. 
Kathryn 
Votapek

Aaron 
Berofsky