Contemporary American music was indelibly transformed by the Holocaust, both through the flight and repatriation of Europe's most accomplished composers of mid-century, and through the profound effects of the Holocaust on American-born composers. American artistic life still embodies this legacy in many ways, and Music of Remembrance's programming emphasizes this.

MOR has built a reputation for its commitment to commissioning and programming contemporary American music. (See the MOR Repertoire for complete list of works.) MOR's commissioning program continues this precious legacy, creating testimonies for tomorrow. To date, MOR has commissioned, given premieres of, and recorded six chamber works from distinguished American composers.

During MOR's tenth season, two more works-Gerard Schwarz's Rudolf and Jeanette (written in memory of his Viennese grandparents, killed during the Holocaust) and Paul Schoenfield's Ghetto Songs (based on the poetry of the beloved Polish "troubador," Mordecai Gebirtig, murdered in the Krakow ghetto) will have their premieres.

MOR's sixth commissioned work was a theatrical song cycle from opera and art song composer Jake Heggie (Dead Man Walking, The End of the Affair) and librettist Gene Scheer. Written for rising star baritone Morgan Smith, For a Look or a Touch had its world premiere on May 7, 2007, and represents Heggie's response to the Nazi attempt to exterminate gay culture. Based on the true story of teen-aged German lovers Gad Beck and Manfred Lewin (who was killed by the Nazis, while Beck survived), it is scored for piano, flute, clarinet, violin, and cello, baritone and actor.

MOR's fifth commissioned work, In Memoriam (2005) by Seattle Symphony Music Director Gerard Schwarz, had its world premiere on May 9, 2005. Schwarz wrote the piece in memory of his late friend and Seattle Symphony cellist David Tonkonogui (1958-2003), on the occasion of his son Julian Schwarz, a former cello student of Tonkonogui's, being awarded MOR's 2005 David Tonkonogui Memorial Award. Scored for a solo cello with a string quartet (two violins, a viola, and cello), the work was voted "Best New Work" of 2005 by the Seattle Weekly's Gavin Borchert.

MOR's fourth commissioned work, The Seed of Dream (2004) by Lori Laitman, had its world premiere on May 9, 2005. Composed for baritone Erich Parce and dedicated to MOR founder and artistic director, Mina Miller, The Seed of Dream is based on the poetry of Holocaust survivor Abraham Sutzkever (b. Smorgon, near Vilna, 1913). Imprisoned in the Vilna ghetto, Sutzkever continued to write poems of classical meter and perfect rhyme, juxtaposing their beauty against the unspeakable barbarity he witnessed. The song cycle is scored for baritone, cello, and piano, and includes five of Sutzkever's poems.

MOR's third commissioned work, Letter to Warsaw (2003) is a 70-minute work for chamber orchestra and soprano based on six poems by Polish cabaret artist Pola Braun (Warsaw Ghetto, d. 1943, Majadnek concentration camp). The texts describe a woman's loss both of her freedom and her home. Letter to Warsaw received its world premiere at our concert on May 10, 2004, and featured guest soprano Jane Eaglen, with MOR's ensemble conducted by Gerard Schwarz. Eaglen and Schwarz reprise the work at MOR's November 4, 2007, Gala Concert.

MOR's second commissioned work, Camp Songs (2001) by Paul Schoenfield, received its world premiere at our April 7, 2002, concert and was a finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Scored for baritone, mezzo-soprano, clarinet, violin, cello, doublebass, and piano, it is a setting of five poems written in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II by political dissident Aleksander Kulisiewicz. Our November 8, 2004, concert featured Schoenfield's critically acclaimed Camp Songs in a new English translation by Katarzyna Jerzak.

MOR's very first commission, A Vanished World (1999) by David Stock, received its world premiere at our April 30, 2000, concert. Stock's instrumental trio for flute, viola, and harp was inspired by Roman Vishniac's famous photographic essay of pre-war East European Jewry. The score was completed in August 1999, and is dedicated to Mina Miller, MOR founder and artistic director. The work was written for flutist Jody Schwarz, violist Susan Gulkis Assadi, and harpist Heidi Lehwalder.