Letters from the Affair is a hybrid work — a little jazz, a little opera, some Klezmer, a little cantorial music, some musical theater and even an art history lecture. This multi-media work, complete with projections and supertitles, is based upon a series of letters written by the Impressionist painters Camille Pissarro and Edgar Degas that follows the arc of their friendship beginning as young artists and finally ending because of their differing views regarding the Dreyfus affair, in which a Jewish French army officer, Alfred Dreyfus, was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Letters from the Affair presents an impression of the intimate personal ramifications of a national political event and is an illustration of how racism and anti-Semitism can destroy a friendship.

The show, which has been performed in various American cities and in London, was composed by David Chevan, co-founder of the nationally known band The Afro-Semitic Experience, members of which will be performing the instrumental music. The role of Camille Pissarro will be sung by Cantor Randall Schloss (Temple Israel of New Rochelle, NY); the role of Edgar Degas by Cantor Martin Levson (Temple Emanu-El of Waukesha, WI).  Baltimore Hebrew Congregant Jon Shorr will narrate.