IN THIS ISSUE: Greeting from Murry Sidlin, President and Creative Director The Children of Willesden Lane Benefit Event The 2017 Schächter Institute in the Czech Republic A New, Original Theatrical Performance! Upcoming Events of The Defiant Requiem Foundation

The Children of Willesden Lane Benefit Event

Board Members and staff of The Defiant Requiem Foundation pose with Mona Golabek. Front row L-R: Nina Glasner; Marion Lewin; Rheda Becker; Patti Kenner Back row: Mark Rulison; Louisa Hollman; Morris Antonelli; Stuart Eizenstat; Pedro Seidemann; Mona Golabek; Murry Sidlin

The Foundation hosted playwright, pianist and actress Mona Golabek for a performance of The Children of Willesden Lane at La Maison Franҁaise at the French Embassy in Washington, DC on March 5, 2017.  Two hundred guests attended the performance and dinner which served as a fundraiser for the Foundation.   The one-woman show performed by Mona is a powerful and moving tribute to her mother, Lisa Jura, who was sent from Vienna as a young girl on a kindertransport to London in 1938.  Lisa’s love of the piano helped sustain her through the darkest days of WWII and she passed this passion along to her daughter, Mona, who is herself a concert pianist.  The story is told lovingly and compellingly through music, narration and video.   Many thanks to Board Member Patti Kenner for helping to coordinate the event.  It was a wonderful evening and the audience was rapt by the performance.   More information can be found on Mona’s website: HoldOnToYour Music.org .

Leadership donors to this event received an invitation to attend a special dinner and discussion with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on March 27.  About sixty guests enjoyed insightful remarks from Secretary Albright about the U.S. election and foreign policy.  She regaled the audience with wonderful personal stories about meetings and relationships with other foreign leaders including Yassar Arafat, Vladimir Putin and many others.  Stu Eizenstat served as the emcee for the evening.