Jewish Melody, the exhibition of the Michael Rogatchi’s 15 original art works, has been opened in Tallinn, Estonia, at the Tallinn Beit-Bella Synagogue and the Estonian Jewish Centre.
The opening was a part of a Special Event co-organised by The Rogatchi Foundation and the Jewish Religious Community of Estonia in commemoration of the Day of Jerusalem and the 7th anniversary of the Tallinn New Synagogue.
The event was extremely well attended by the public, and people were very interested in seeing the original art work of the artist and talking with him on his new series.
Previously, the Jewish Melody series of art work was exhibited with huge success and a lot of public interest in Vilnius, at the Vilnius Public Jewish Library. There, the exhibition was a part of the official programme of the IV World Litvak Congress and the state-wide supported programme for the commemorating the 70th anniversary of the destruction of the Vilna ghetto.
In his special greeting letter, Zilvinas Beliauskas, the director of the Vilnius Jewish Public Library, wrote the following:
“We are so happy that the sounds and sights as well as the spirit of Michael’s Jewish Melody links us up today with all of you letting us breathe in the same rhythm of emotional excitement. We are so happy that the Jewish Melodysinging bird has perched in the Tallinn Synagogue now and its melody is still reverberating in Vilnius with very vivid remembrance”.
In his opening speech, Michael Rogatchi said that it is “always a real pleasure for him and his wife to have exhibitions and other joint projects in Tallinn, especially having such wonderful friends and colleagues as the Chief Rabbi of Estonia Rabbi Kot and the chairman of the Jewish Religious Community of Estonia Mr Boris Oks; but also, the entire Jewish community of Tallinn, with its special, friendly and kind atmosphere, is an old good friend of ours, and it is a pure pleasure to run more and more projects together”.
In his interview to Estonian National Radio Michael Rogatchi also emphasised that he “has chosen a lyrical attitude for the works in the Jewish Melody series deliberately, to show that our memory is alive by the melodies of our hearts, by its smiles, and remembrance of the best, most touching moments in our lives, as many generations back as one is able to remember. Importantly, amidst all the horrors which befall Jewish people, we are sustained by our tradition and devotion to our people, and by our songs, the melodies of our hearts, we are alive and prevailing. And there is no better way to express it than the melodies of the one’s heart”.
As with all projects of The Rogatchi Foundation, the exhibition is a charitable one, with proceeds from it going to support the needs of the school and the Educational Centre of the Estonian Jewish Centre. Significantly, in this best in Tallinn school, there are many non-Jewish children studying, and the school and the educational centre are constantly hosting delegations of children from many neighbouring countries, including Finland, Sweden and the other Baltic and Scandinavian countries.
In his greeting speech, His Excellency Aleksi Härkönen, Ambassador of Finland to Estonia, especially emphasised this moment saying that “it is a high-aiming goal, to develop Estonian education further on, as the Estonian education system is very well known and highly esteemed internationally. And it is a very noble task to infuse yet more creativity into that, with opening its international horizons yet more widely. As the Ambassador of Finland, I am especially proud to greet you all here tonight while opening of the marvellous exhibition of the one of the most notable modern artists living and working in Finland”.