Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer
December 5, 2019
Ahavath Achim Synagogue
Produced by The Defiant Requiem Foundation as the 2019 Fran Eizenstat and Eizenstat Family Memorial Lecture
Hours of Freedom combines live music, video, and narrative to highlight works by fifteen composers imprisoned in the Theresienstadt (Terezín) Concentration Camp during WWII
On December 5, 2019 at 7:00 pm The Defiant Requiem Foundation performs Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer. Hours of Freedom is a concert-drama that showcases music by fifteen composers imprisoned in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp (Terezín) during World War II. The performance is at the Ahavath Achim Synagogue (600 Peachtree Battle Ave NW, Atlanta). Admission is free; reservations are required by November 30 at this link. This performance is the featured 2019 Fran Eizenstat and Eizenstat Family Memorial Lecture.
Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer combines video, music, and narrative to highlight compositions by Viktor Ullmann, Gideon Klein, Pavel Haas, Rudolf Karel, and about a dozen others. Much of this music was the last that was composed by these gifted artists - many of whom were in their 20s and 30s when they perished. Several were destined to be the next generation of significant Czech composers, following in the footsteps of Dvořák, Smetana, Janáček, Martinu, and Suk. Some of their compositions reflect the personal, eyewitness account of the agony and suffering of camp life, while others express the assurance of a return to life as it was before the war.
The music is performed by vocalists Arianna Zukerman, Leah Wool, and David Kravitz, concertmaster and solo violinist Herbert Greenberg, cellist Julian Schwarz, pianist Phillip Silver, with the Hours of Freedom Chamber Players. Program highlights include:
Ullmann's 7th Piano Sonata, which contains hidden sociological and patriotic messages.
The Etude for Strings by Pavel Haas, which will combine the live ensemble together with Terezín musicians captured on film in August 1944.
A song cycle by Hans Krasa, which evokes heart-breaking longing.
Karel Svenk's Everything is Possible, which represents the cabaret "voice" of Terezín from one of Europe's most imaginative artists.
Murry Sidlin, the founder of The Defiant Requiem Foundation, is the creator and writer of Hours of Freedom and conducts this performance. The performance is generously supported by The Molly Blank Fund of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.
2019 marks the 31st year of The Fran Eizenstat and Eizenstat Family Memorial Lecture. This prestigious event has featured Nobel Peace Prize and Pulitzer Prize winners, United States Presidents and Vice Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, and Israeli Prime Ministers, among other eminent national and international guests. Stuart Eizenstat, The Defiant Requiem Foundation board chair since 2011, established the series in 1987 to honor the memory of his family members.
Ahavath Achim Synagogue cultivates a Jewish community of purposeful belonging. We inspire and support spiritual journeys by deepening relationships with one another. We believe it is at the crossroads of our spiritual paths that life’s purpose and God might be found.
Murry Sidlin and The Defiant Requiem Foundation also produced an Emmy-nominated documentary film narrated by Bebe Neuwirth that has been praised as a "gripping documentary" (Examiner.com), with "a very powerful message" (CNN). More information is at DefiantRequiem.org.
CALENDAR LISTING
Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer
Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 7:00 pm
Ahavath Achim Synagogue
600 Peachtree Battle Ave NW, Atlanta
aasynagogue.org/hours-of-freedom
Produced by The Defiant Requiem Foundation
as the 2019 Fran Eizenstat and Eizenstat Family Memorial Lecture
Murry Sidlin, creator & conductor
Callan White, narrator
Arianna Zukerman, soprano
Leah Wool, mezzo-soprano
Jonathan Blalock, tenor
David Kravitz, baritone
Herbert Greenberg, concertmaster and solo violin
Julian Schwarz, cello
Phillip Silver, piano
Hours of Freedom Chamber Players
Admission is free, registration is required.
Reserve by November 30th at aasynagogue.org/hours-of-freedom
2019/20 Performances
Defiant Requiem Foundation
November 4, 2019: Defiant Requiem | Budapest | Hungarian State Opera
50th worldwide performance of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín
December 5, 2019: Hours of Freedom | Atlanta | Ahavath Achim Synagogue
Produced by The Defiant Requiem Foundation as the 2019 Fran Eizenstat and Eizenstat Family Memorial Lecture.
March 28, 2020: Defiant Requiem | Valdosta Symphony Orchestra
Presented by the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, Valdosta State University Department of Music, and The Defiant Requiem Foundation with funding from the Gretchen M. Brooks University Residency Project.