Mariela Shaker at Lynn
Shaker Joins Lynn for the Distinguished Lecture Series
By: Spencer A. Backman, Global News Editor
Award-winning violinist and refugee activist, Mariela Shaker, spoke at the Wold Performing Arts Center at Lynn University on Jan. 29, 2024, as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series.
Mariela Shaker, who has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the White House and the Royal Academy of Music now adds Lynn University to the list as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series hosted by the Center for Citizenship and Civility at Lynn University. Accompanied by her husband, Riyad Nicolas, a multi-prize-winning concert pianist who is also from Aleppo, gave an impassioned speech and performance for a crowd of community leaders, Lynn students and friends in the Boca Raton area on life growing up in Syria as a young woman with a passion for music, living and teaching in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war, becoming a refugee and finding a new home in the United States.
“The horrors of the Holocaust prompted those concerned with genocide happening again to try to rally the world with the mantra ‘never again!’” As Mariela Shaker reminds us through her own story, compelling words and music, the world is also struggling to find ways to stop the crisis of displacing refugees,” said Dr. Robert P. Watson, a Distinguished Professor of American History and organizer of the Distinguished Lecture Series at Lynn.
Shaker spoke candidly about walking through a city with bombs falling around her and wondering if she would be next. She described teaching music to students who had to “hide under the desks” multiple times a day while artillery and airstrikes shook the walls around them. Shaker also described losing friends and losing what was once a beautiful and thriving city, using videos and images to describe the scale of damage and loss that words rarely can.
“I loved always meeting famous people from human rights activists to former UN Deputy Secretary Generals to Pulitzer Prize winners to everything in between,” said Max Lederer, a Lynn junior and communications major.
In addition to students, members of the community and fans of the Distinguished Lecture Series also joined.
“We come to see Dr. Watson because he’s informative, educational, we learn, he’s knowledgeable, and the people he deals with are very interesting and we love coming to all of his lectures,” said Fran Schwartz, a local community member and friend of Dr. Watson and Lynn University.
Shaker was the last Distinguished Lecture Series Speaker of the 2023-2024 year.
On Apr. 4, 2024, The Center for Citizenship and Civility will host its tenth annual Holocaust Awareness and Remembrance Event with the Florida Regional Director of the Anti-defamation League, the Deputy Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Deputy Director of the FBI for Counter Extremism. They will speak on a panel about the rise in antisemitism, islamophobia, xenophobia and how to counter all forms of hate.
