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Hours of Freedom in Jerusalem
Building on the extraordinarily successful performance of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín in 2012, the Israel Festival and The Defiant Requiem Foundation joined forces once again to bring Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer to Jerusalem on Thursday, June 2, 2016. The international nature of the collaboration was further enhanced by the participation of soloists from the U.S., Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, who joined musicians from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and Israeli actress Sharon Hacohen-Bar to complete the outstanding cast.
Presented in Henry Crown Hall at the Jerusalem Theatre as part of the Festival’s 2016 schedule of events, the program was performed in both English and Hebrew, and was enthusiastically received by the Israeli audience. Chairman of the Israel Festival Board, Dan Halperin, remarked, “Hours of Freedom was one of the highlights of the Israel Festival Jerusalem 2016. The audience reacted warmly to Murry Sidlin’s very intelligent choice of great music … and [to] the moving background remarks which brought to light the resilience of the human spirit [when confronted] with inhumane conditions and sheer malice.” The concert was made possible by contributions from a number of generous donors in the U.S. and a grant from the Gretchen M. Brooks University Residency Project.
The Foundation is grateful to Festival Director, Eyal Sher, for his support of this concert and to the staff of the Israel Festival for their dedication and professionalism. Foundation Board Member Katja Manor served as the primary translator for this concert, as she has for a number of other Foundation performances.