Corinne Winters, Yuriy Yurchuk, Andrew Foster-Williams, Bernard Richter, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Karabits

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kirill Karabits, joined by an outstanding cast led by Corinne Winters, present the world premiere recording of Thomas de Hartmann’s lost opera Esther. Often written by candlelight during the Nazi occupation of Paris, Esther was composed as de Hartmann—a non-Jewish Ukrainian expatriate—lived through the unfolding horrors of the Holocaust. He perceived profound parallels between those events and the Biblical story of Esther as dramatized in Jean Racine’s play, from whose text he adapted the libretto.

Esther is perhaps the only major musical work composed contemporaneously as a direct artistic response to the Holocaust. This distinctive work bridges opera and oratorio, its dramatic momentum shaped through extended monologues, choral commentary, and a triumphant final ensemble. Richly orchestrated, it reflects the full breadth of de Hartmann’s artistic development—from his early training in Saint Petersburg to his search for a deeply personal, polystylistic musical language. This album marks the next chapter of the Thomas de Hartmann Project, bringing this long-neglected masterpiece back to the listening audience.