MOR's Brundibar CD Makes Opera News "Top Ten" List

Music of Remembrance's Brundibár CD's "Excellence" Praised by Simonyi Fund

SEATTLE, WA - January 9, 2008 - Opera News, the national opera magazine published by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, has named a local recording of Hans Krása's Brundibár among the top ten CDs they reviewed in 2007, praising "the sprightly performance...by Gerard Schwarz and Music of Remembrance." Originally performed at the Nazi concentration camp Terezín by child inmates-nearly all of whom were killed at Auschwitz-Brundibár has become a poignant memorial to their youthful dignity and courage. MOR's CD appears on Naxos, the world's leading classical music label.

The Seattle-based chamber music group Music of Remembrance is dedicated to remembering Holocaust musicians and their art through performance. "Recordings are a major part of how we share this amazing cultural legacy with the country and the whole world, so I am thrilled with this recognition," said MOR Artistic Director Mina Miller. "It's doubly exciting because Brundibár was the first opera we have ever recorded. Everyone at Naxos has been sending us congratulations."

The recording was underwritten by a $35,000 award from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences. "Our mission centers on providing Access to Excellence," said the Fund's executive director, Susan Hutchison, "so we are delighted that Opera News was as impressed as we were with a recording uniting the talents of Seattle Symphony's Gerard Schwarz, the Northwest Boychoir led by Joseph Crnko, Seattle's leading chamber musicians, and singers from Seattle Opera Young Artists program."

This is the first recording of Brundibár with the new English libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, who also collaborated with Maurice Sendak on the children's book of Brundibár. His playful and poignant adaptation (suitable for ages 8 and up) is faithful to the opera's musical idiom and its magical tale of the victory of innocence over evil-with the help of their animal friends, two children unite a village against the bully Brundibár and send him packing.

The CD also includes Krása'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, in an arrangement for soprano (Maureen McKay) and clarinet (Laura DeLuca).

CD Ordering Information
Online at www.musicofremembrance.org and wherever Naxos CDs are sold.

Artist/Cast List:

Brundibár
Conductor: Gerard Schwarz
Stage Director: Erich Parce
Choral Director: Joseph Crnko
Artistic Director: Mina Miller

Brundibár: Morgan Smith
Aninku: Maureen McKay
Pepicek: Ross Hauck
Cat: David Korn
Sparrow: Holly Boaz
Dog: Auston James
Policeman: Michael Drumheller
Milkman: Jadd Davis
Ice Cream Seller: Jesse Parce
Baker: Evan Woltz

Chorus: Northwest Boychoir

Music of Remembrance
Flute: Scott Goff; Clarinet: Laura DeLuca, Jennifer Nelson; Trumpet: David Gordon; Guitar: Steven Novacek; Percussion: Matt Kocmieroski; Piano: Mina Miller; Violin: Mikhail Shmidt, Jeannie Wells Yablonsky, Leonid Keylin, Mariel Bailey; Viola: Susan Gulkis Assadi; Cello: Mara Finkelstein; Doublebass: Jonathan Green; Accordion: Diane Schmidt

Overture for Small Orchestra
Music of Remembrance Ensemble
Conductor: Gerard Schwarz
Piano: Craig Sheppard

I Never Saw Another Butterfly
Soprano: Maureen McKay
Clarinet: Laura DeLuca

About Music of Remembrance
Music of Remembrance (MOR) fills a unique spiritual and cultural role in Seattle and throughout the United States by remembering Holocaust musicians and their art through musical performances, educational activities, musical recordings and commissions of new works. Since its 1998-99 inaugural year, MOR has presented two major concerts annually at Seattle's Benaroya Hall, marking the anniversary of Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) each fall and Holocaust Remembrance Day each spring. More information available atwww.musicofremembrance.org.