The Defiant Requiem Foundation presents the world premiere of they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes by Gerald Cohen
Song cycle is a setting of texts from Poems Born in Bergen-Belsen by Menachem Z. Rosensaft
Featured performers: Mezzo soprano Leah Wool and baritone David Kravitz
October 25, 7 pm at Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College in NYC and live-streamed worldwide
“[Gerald Cohen’s music] reveals a very personal modernism that...offers great emotional rewards.” - Gramophone
Ghosts of the past weave their way into our present and future in Menachem Z. Rosensaft's book Poems Born in Bergen-Belsen. Composer Gerald Cohen has brought Rosensaft's words to the concert stage in his settings of these poems. Mezzo soprano Leah Wool and baritone David Kravitz are featured performers in the world premiere of Cohen's song cycle, they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes.
The composition, commissioned and presented by The Defiant Requiem Foundation, will be performed on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at 7 pm at The Dr. Bernard Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College (One West Fourth Street in Manhattan). In-person and live-streamed attendance is free, reservations (at www.defiantrequiem.org/Oct25 beginning in late August) are required.
The program also includes music by composers who were imprisoned at the concentration camp at Terezín during WWII, including Viktor Ullmann, James Simon and Robert Dauber; as well as selections from Olivier Messiaen’s seminal Quartet for the End of Time. Instrumentalists include clarinetist Jon Manasse and cellist Julian Schwarz. Program details are below.
A post-performance discussion with the poet and composer will be moderated by Murry Sidlin, President and Artistic Director of The Defiant Requiem Foundation. The audience is invited to a reception following the program.
Calendar listing
Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 7 pm
The Dr. Bernard Heller Museum at Hebrew Union College
One West Fourth Street in Manhattan
World premiere of they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes by Gerald Cohen on poetry by Menachem Z. Rosensaft; and other chamber works
Post-performance discussion led by Murry Sidlin, President and Artistic Director of The Defiant Requiem Foundation
In-person and live-stream admission is free, reservations (at www.defiantrequiem.org/Oct25 beginning in late August) are required.
PROGRAM
Gerald Cohen: they burn, the fires of the night: lamentations from the ashes (world premiere)
Viktor Ullmann: Variations and Fugue on a Hebrew Folksong from Piano Sonata No. 7
James Simon: Arioso for Unaccompanied Cello
Robert Dauber: Serenade for Violin and Piano
Olivier Messiaen: The Abyss of the Bird & Praise to The Eternity of Jesus
from Quartet for the End of Time
PERFORMERS
Herbert Greenberg, Violin
Jon Manasse, Clarinet
Julian Schwarz, Cello
Marika Bournaki, Piano
Leah Wool, Mezzo Soprano
David Kravitz, Baritone
The performance is underwritten by the House of Julius Meinl