Spring Concert: Another Sunrise
Another Sunrise, our second commission from composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, tells of the day-to-day survival of Polish resistor and hidden jew, Krystyna Zywulska. With her mother, Krystyna walked out of the Warsaw ghetto in broad daylight in 1942, and joined the Polish resistance. Captured by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau as a political prisoner, she wrote satiric poetry that became camp anthems of resistance. The gifted soprano Caitlin Lynch sings in the world premiere of this musical drama. You’ll also hear the talented Northwest Boychoir perform a set of beautiful Yiddish and Hebrew folk songs, in a haunting arrangement created by Viktor Ullmann in the Terezín concentration camp. Works by Pavel Haas and Szymon Laks are eloquent celebrations of national identities under assault by the Nazi onslaught. Composed in 1939, just after the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, Haas’ suite for oboe and piano expresses an intense love of country by incorporating the melody of the St. Wenceslas chorale - the emblematic Czech musical symbol. Laks’ third string quartet, his first composition after liberation from Auschwitz, returns to folk and dance elements of regions of his native Poland.
After the concert, join Jake Heggie, his librettist Gene Scheer, and the whole MOR family to socialize and celebrate with a Gala Dinner. Drink and dine in the luxurious Ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel, with its nighttime views of Elliott Bay and Puget Sound.
