By Lily Primus
This spring, graduating Rice senior Lily Primus received two recognitions from the Program in Jewish Studies.
She was awarded the Morris and Shirley Rapoport Award in Jewish Studies, an award given to a Rice undergraduate who has demonstrated exemplary achievement and dedication in Jewish studies throughout her undergraduate career. And she also received the Sosland Family Fellowship for Jewish Studies that enabled her to travel to Seoul to participate in the Korea International Harp Competition. Lily graduated from the Shepherd School of Music in May 2024 and is now a graduate student in harp performance.
This past April, I was extremely fortunate to be the recipient of a Sosland Family Fellowship from Rice’s Program in Jewish Studies to compete in the Korea International Harp Competition.
Alongside my fellow Shepherd School of Music harp studio mates, I traveled to Seoul, South Korea, at the end of April 2024 to compete in this highly prestigious solo harp competition.
This experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel the world and experience a different culture, for which I am profoundly grateful. I was able to explore the city of Seoul and learn so much about a country about which I had long been fascinated about. While I did not win the competition, the experience of preparing and going through the process was an invaluable.
As a Jewish studies minor, I was also thrilled to be part of this unique event and combine it with my major studies as a harpist. As a musician, it is important to me to connect my personal cultural heritage as a Jewish American to my performances. One of the pieces I performed was Paul Hindemith’s “Sonate für Harfe,” and is a key example of connecting my heritage with my performances. Hindemith wrote this piece at the beginning of World War II, and I always associate this piece with my family’s history.
This experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel the world and experience a different culture, for which I am profoundly grateful.
My German-Jewish great-great-grandmother, Bella Berliner, was in hiding during the Holocaust, and I think of her story of survival every time I perform this piece. Getting to play this work in Korea was an incredible experience because I was able to share this phenomenal piece and everything it means to me as a scholar of Jewish culture. I will forever be indebted to Rice’s Program in Jewish Studies for its amazing contributions to my undergraduate education, and for the financial support I received to compete in this international competition. Thank you so much for your generosity, especially to the Sosland family, which allowed me to spread my love for harp and Jewish scholarship across the globe to an international audience.