Lori and David Mason Collaborate on "Vedem"
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Music of Remembrance, in Seattle, WA, has again commissioned Lori — this time to compose a Holocaust oratorio, Vedem. Vedem, which translates to “in the lead” was the name of the secret magazine “published” by the boys of Terezin between 1942 and 1944. David Mason has created a brilliant libretto which tells the tale of these boys, and Lori is interweaving Dave’s libretto with seven of the poems from the magazine. The poems are by Petr Ginz, Hanus Hachenburg, Zdenek Ornest, and Josef Taussig. Ornest was the only one to survive the war, and he died in 1966.
Lori recently met with two of the Vedem “boys” — Leo Löwy and Emil Kopel, now in their 80s. Kopel lives in Australia and Lowy lives in New Jersey and they had not seen each other for 66 years. The meeting was filmed by the award-winning filmmaker John Sharify. John is making a documentary Vedem.
Lori’s work is scored for boychoir, tenor, mezzo-soprano, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, and will premiere in Benaroya Hall in Seattle on May 10, 2010. For more information, or to contribute to the Vedem Special Project Fund, please visit www.musicofremembrance.org/donate