Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín
Sunday, April 28
at Northern Illinois University's Boutell Memorial Concert Hall
Complete live performance of Verdi's Requiem, interspersed with historic film, testimony from survivors and narration tells the moving story of courageous performances by prisoners in a WWII concentration camp
Praised by The New York Times as "Poignant...a monument to the courage of one man to foster hope among prisoners with little other solace," Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín will be performed at Northern Illinois University on Sunday, April 28, 2019 at 3:00 pm at Boutell Memorial Concert Hall (550 Lucinda Ave., DeKalb, IL). Complete details below.
The "extraordinarily beautiful and moving" concert/drama commemorates the courageous Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp during World War II who performed Verdi's Requiem 16 times, as an act of defiance and resistance to their Nazi captors. Defiant Requiem is a complete live performance of Verdi's Requiem interspersed with historic film, testimony from survivors and narration that tells this tale of audacious bravery.
Led by Maestro Murry Sidlin, president of The Defiant Requiem Foundation and creator of this powerful concert/drama, Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín features the Northern Illinois University Philharmonic, Northern Illinois University Concert Choir, Cor Cantiamo, McHenry County College Chorus, and Voices in Harmony. Soloists include Sarah Gartshore (soprano), Susan Platts (mezzo-soprano), Andrzej Stec (tenor), and Sam Hadley (bass).
Ticketing information and more for Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín is available in the calendar listing below.
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.
Sunday, April 28 at 3:00 pm
Boutell Memorial Concert Hall
550 Lucinda Avenue
DeKalb, IL 60115
Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for students and are available at http://www.niu.edu/music/
Presented by the Northern Illinois University School of Music and The Defiant Requiem Foundation with funding from the Gretchen M. Brooks University Residency Project
Murry Sidlin, creator & conductor
Sarah Gartshore, soprano
Susan Platts, mezzo-soprano
Andrzej Stec, tenor
Sam Hadley, bass-baritone
Northern Illinois University Philharmonic
Danko Drusko, director
Northern Illinois University Concert Choir
Eric A. Johnson, director of choral activities
Cor Cantiamo - Eric A. Johnson, founding artistic director
McHenry County College Chorus - Steven Szalaj, director
Voices In Harmony - Steven Szalaj, director