On September 12, 2025, I visited Terezin for the first time. It was a deeply moving experience. Carved into the walls of the museum, I saw the names of the dead children whose words I had set to music. I saw the original pages of the Vedem magazine. I saw the town of Terezin, now inhabited by people who seemingly know nothing of its history.
During our stay in Prague, we also visited excellent exhibitions organized by The Jewish Museum of Prague. In one exhibit, my husband noticed pages displayed from Bonaco, another secret magazine, written by the girls imprisoned at Terezin. I was surprised and contacted Mina Miller of Music of Remembrance — she also had not heard of this magazine. This was probably due to the fact that the magazine was hidden away in the US for decades before being returned to Prague. Mina asked me to compose a sequel to Vedem by setting prose and poetry from Bonaco.
We searched for the right translator and independently, we both found the ideal person — Timothy Cheek . He translated the original Czech prose and poetry that I chose — by Jarka, Iris, Desirée and Taja, girls who had perished. I began work on April 5, 2026. The song cycle will have 7 songs, and is scored by soprano soloist and girls chorus, accompanied by clarinet, violin, cello and piano. The work will premiere in January 2027 in Seattle, with musicians from Music of Remembrance, soprano Madeline Ross and the Seattle Girls Choir, under the direction of Sarra S .Doyle.
