7:00 pm Saturday, October 17, 2020
| Online Event |
Hours of Freedom@Home
Murry Sidlin, creator & host
Arianna Zukerman, soprano
Ann McMahon Quintero, mezzo-soprano
Herbert Greenberg, violin
Noreen Silver, cello
Phillip Silver, piano
“Most of the artists – the painters and the musicians – went with the transport as myself. Why it was so combined together nobody knows. I think they wished to have the people who had been important in Terezín, to be out of Terezín and to be killed.”
— Felix Kolmer, Terezín Survivor
On October 16, 1944, the Nazis sent a transport of 1,500 prisoners from Terezín to Auschwitz. Included in this transport were many of the musicians who had played a prominent role in the artistic life of the camp. Among those deported were a number of composers who were destined to be the next generation of significant Czech composers – following in the footsteps of Dvořák, Smetana, and Janáček, among others. Upon arrival the next day, nearly all were murdered.
Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer introduces these composers, and their music, which was often the last that was composed by these gifted artists – many of whom were in their 20s and 30s when they were murdered. Some of their compositions reflect the personal eyewitness account of the agony and suffering in Terezín, while others express the assurance of a return to life as it was before the war.
Hours of Freedom@Home will feature ‘at home’ performances of music drawn from the Foundation’s live Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer concerts. The musical selections are being recorded especially for this occasion by some of our talented artist-friends. In between the music, Foundation President and Artistic Director Murry Sidlin will appear live to introduce each work and share more about the remarkable prisoner-composer who wrote it. The event will also include an interactive talk-back session for audience members to ask questions and learn more about these talented artists whose lives were cut short by the Holocaust.
Advance registration is required. Please click here to register.
Suggested donation $20. Please click here to donate.