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CONCENTRATION CAMP COMPOSER'S OPERA OF HOPE AND COURAGE COMES TO BENAROYA HALL MAY 8 & 9 Children's Opera Brundibár Features Playwright Tony Kushner's English Adaptation April 17, 2006 SEATTLE, WA - April 17, 2006 - "When we sang, we forgot where we were. We forgot hunger, we forgot all the troubles that we had to go through," said Ela Stein Weissberger, a survivor of the Holocaust. She is referring to her role in the opera Brundibár, which she performed at a concentration camp with other children inmates there. For Weissberger, the opera lifted spirits and gave hope. And now, it's about to lift a new generation of spirits here in Seattle. On May 8 and 9, at 7:00 p.m., Music of Remembrance will present Brundibár, fully staged and costumed, in the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall. Tickets are just $25 and can be ordered by calling 206-365-7770 or by visiting www.musicofremembrance.org. "We are thrilled to bring this beloved work to Seattle," said Mina Miller, artistic director of Music of Remembrance. "Our audience will hear about Brundibár's extraordinary history from someone who was part of it, and the performances will bring them a wonderful night of music filled with hope and joy." Ms. Weissberger will speak before each Seattle performance of Brundibár. Weissberger was 11 when she was sent to the Terezín concentration camp, and was the Cat in the original Brundibár cast there. Of the 15,000 children who passed through Terezín, she is one of just 100 who survived. 
Hans Krása Brundibár was created by the Czech composer Hans Krása. Born in 1889, Krása was 11 when his first orchestral work was performed in Salzburg, and he studied in Berlin with Alexander Zemlinsky. Krása was one of the most promising composers of his generation, but his career was cut short when Czechoslovakia came under Nazi control. The anti-fascist composer wrote the children's opera Brundibár in 1938, entering it into a competition sponsored by the Czech Ministry of Education and Culture. Brundibár had its premiere in 1942, at the Vinohrady Jewish Boy's Orphanage, which had become a recital hall for the Jews of the Prague ghetto. On August l0, 1942, Krása (now number 21855) was imprisoned in Terezín. As head of the Freizeitgestaltung (Administration of Free Time Activities), Krása directed the camp's musical activities. He revised Brundibár, and the 35-minute opera was performed 55 times. The cast needed constant replenishing because the children were transported to the East after most performances. Nearly all the child performers were murdered at Auschwitz, and performances of Brundibár have become memorials to their dignity and courage. (Krása shared the children's fate. He was transported to Auschwitz and murdered there in October 1944.) "The opera is both a parable of the children's situation and a reflection of the composer's hopes and dreams," says Miller. Today, more than sixty years after Terezín, Brundibár is performed throughout the world, and it continues to speak to people of all ages through its story, its music and its legacy. The New York Times' Allan Kozinn recently described Brundibár's poignancy: "[T]he music itself is the embodiment of innocence and hope, with sweetly harmonized choral writing reminiscent of Zoltan Kodaly, as well as cabaret touches that invoke the spirit of Kurt Weill." Like other important works, Brundibár has continued to evolve in its presentation. In 2003, Pulitzer playwright Tony Kushner and illustrator Maurice Sendak collaborated on a striking picture book version of the Brundibár tale, and this has become the basis for a new production of the opera with Kushner's brilliant English-language libretto. While faithful to opera's music idiom and its magical children's tale of triumph of innocence over evil, Kushner employs a language that gives Brundibár an immediacy for today's audiences. His libretto preserves the sense of miracle, but also cautions against the false reassurance that the struggle against evil is ever finished. Music of Remembrance's performances are conducted by Gerard Schwarz of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and directed by Erich Parce. Baritone Morgan Smith, a former Seattle Opera Young Artist, is Brundibár. He makes his San Francisco opera debut this June, and returns to Seattle Opera for the role of Don Giovanni next season. Soprano Maureen McKay, fresh from Seattle Opera's Young Artists production of The Turn of the Screw, sings Aninku. Next season, McKay joins New York City Opera to sing Despina in Mozart's Così fan tutte. Aninku's brother Pepicek is Jadd Davis, a Seattle singing actor who has been seen at 5th Avenue Theatre. The children's chorus, drawn from Northwest Boychoir and Vocalpoint!, is led by Joseph Crnko. In addition to Brundibár, the program includes the Overture for Small Orchestra that Krása composed while in Terezín, in a performance featuring acclaimed pianist Craig Sheppard. Each night's event begins with a special performance by a recipient of MOR's annual David Tonkonogui Memorial Award. This year's winner performs on May 8: Jocelyn Chang, a young violinist, plays Serenata by Robert Dauber. On May 9, Julian Schwarz, the cellist son of conductor Gerard Schwarz and the 2005 winner, plays his father's composition "In Memoriam." Gerard Schwarz wrote the piece in honor of David Tonkonogui (1958-2003), who joined Seattle Symphony in 1990 and was a part of Music of Remembrance from its first concerts in 1998. Audience members who fall in love with Brundibár will be delighted to learn that MOR is producing a CD recording of the opera, to be available from Naxos [naxos.com] this fall. This will be the first CD of Brundibár to feature award-winning playwright Tony Kushner's new English-language libretto. The CD will also include Krasa's Overture for Small Orchestra (with pianist Craig Sheppard), and contemporary American composer Lori Laitman's song cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly, based on poetry written by children at Terezín. The Laitman songs will be presented in an arrangement for soprano (Maureen McKay) and clarinet (Laura DeLuca). For interviews with Ela Stein Weissberger, cast members, or Mina Miller, contact MOR at 206-365-7770 or email info@musicofremembrance.org. For more information, visit www.musicofremembrance.org.
Press Queries: Mina Miller, Artistic Director Brundibár, A Children's Opera May 8 & 9, 2006, 7:00 p.m. Introduction: Bob Goldfarb interviews Ela Stein Weissberger Robert Dauber, Serenata Gerard Schwarz, "In Memoriam" Hans Krása, Overture for Small Orchestra (Terezín, 1943-44) Hans Krása, Brundibár (Terezín, 1943) Brundibár: Morgan Smith Music of Remembrance Ensemble About Music of Remembrance |
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