Film composer scores song inspired by Mitka's life story
My name is, Jordan Roper and I’m a film composer.
I first heard Mitka Kalinski’s amazing story from my aunt Luana, whose daughter had heard Mitka speak at a high school in Elko, Nevada. Luana, was inspired by her daughter’s retelling of Mitka’s life. When she learned that this holocaust survivor was still alive, she felt compelled to meet Mitka in person. My aunt Luana did in fact meet with Mitka and his family, where he shared more details about his horrific and miraculous life as a child slave during the holocaust. Mitka’s story moved my aunt Luana, like no other story she’s read or heard before – let alone a true story!
My aunt Luana shared Mitka’s story with me with such passion and feeling that it stirred something inside of me as well. As a film composer, I use the power of music to evoke the mood and emotion of the story unfolding on the screen. I wanted to compose a piece that would capture Mitka’s life from tragedy to triumph.
I wanted to start writing immediately, but I was in the middle of grad school earning my Masters of Music in Film Composition from the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program at the Seattle Film Institute. But Mitka’s story and the notes would not let me rest, so I got started in the middle of the school week composing the main theme. The 8 bar melody alone took me about a month to perfect. Then the rest of the orchestra was done in about a week. Once having the melody complete, I sent my wife and kids on a vacation so I could fully focus on orchestrating the piece. I wanted to make sure that I portrayed the Jewish feeling and culture without being to on the nose, yet still allow the true intent of the piece to resonate. I wanted to bring the listener through a melodic journey to feel Mitka’s lowliness of despair as a child slave during the holocaust, to the crescendo of hope through his will to survive.
Mitka did not know his real name. As a child slave to a cruel Nazi Officer, he was called Martin. When the boy was finally liberated he was told that his real name was Mitka. The boy was so overwhelmed with joy he began shouting, “My Name is Mitka! My Name is Mitka!” For this reason, I named the piece, “My Name is Mitka.”
Close to a year after finishing the piece, I was in Cheyenne Wyoming visiting my parents and my wife and I attended the Cheyenne Wyoming Symphony. I thought to myself this would be a great venue to premier “My Name is Mitka.” My brief inquiry was met with the perfunctory, “leave your information and we’ll get back to you.” Which is a nice way of saying thanks, but no thanks.
Several weeks later I receiving a surprising phone call from the Maestro of the Cheyenne Symphony, who just happens to be Jewish and was not only inspired by Mitka’s story of survival, but he also loved the music.
On crisp night on January 14, 2017, “My Name is Mitka” had its world premiere at the Cheyenne Wyoming Symphony. I will never forget, the emotional standing ovation it received and how the applause seemed to last forever.
I knew Mitka lived in Sparks, Nevada. And I knew that the Reno Philharmonic is a well-respected venue within the symphony community. I thought maybe I could finally meet the man who inspired me to write the piece and have the honor of having the Philharmonic play it for him in person.
I inquired at the Reno Philharmonic and received the same perfunctory enthusiasm as I did in Cheyenne, with the same results. Several weeks later the Maestro of the Reno Philharmonic call to tell me they loved the idea of playing “My Name Is Mitka” in honor of a local holocaust survivor.
On November 5th, 2017, I finally had the honor of meeting Mitka Kalinski, the man that inspired me. It was an emotional meeting to say the least. Mitka gave me a big, tight hug and said in my ear, “I don’t know how you captured my life in that music. Your music told the story of my childhood. How did you do it?” These are the words any composer dreams of hearing. If only Mitka knew how much he inspired me to write the greatest piece I had written up to that point in my life. What an absolute privilege!
I was able to give the pre-concert lecture on the piece with the Maestro and Steven Brallier, the author of Mitka’s biography, gave an overview of Mitka’s incredible story. As I introduced the piece on stage, I then introduced Mitka, who was seated in the front row, to the audience and they all finally got to meet this amazing man. Mitka was dressed in a suit coat and slacks with a New York cabby hat to complete the ensemble. His childlike smile and sparkling green eyes lit-up the auditorium.
Then “My Name Is Mitka” filled the room with its moving score.
Upon its final note, Mitka rose, as did the audience... all 1,400 of them at once. You could see the gratitude and humility in Mitka’s eyes along with the tears from the audience members. Finally, Mitka was able to hear his piece. It was a day I will never forget.
Below is the link to hear “My Name is Mitka”. I sincerely hope that listening to it inspires you as much as Mitka’s life story inspired me!
https://m.soundcloud.com/jordansroper/mitka-live-concert-recoring-2017
Mitka (left) & Jordan Roper (right) with sheet music for “My Name is Mitka”