Libretto by David Mason (b.1954).

From the Vedem oratorio, commissioned by Mina Miller, Founder and Artistic Director and made possibly by a generous grant from the William O and K Carole Ellison Foundation. The work tells the story of the boys of Terezin and their secret magazine Vedem, and the work premiered May 10, 2010 at the Illsley Ball Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, WA.

To purchase the Music of Remembrance CD or mp3, featuring The Northwest Boychoir, please click here.

The work has been staged by Indianapolis Opera and Opera Orlando. Please contact me regarding the oratorio score and parts or any licensing questions.

The post We Were Alive, Approximately appeared first on Lori Laitman, Composer.

The photo above is of the 4 survivors of the Boys of Terezin, Home #1, who wrote for the magazine, and who attended the Premiere in 2010. Pictured from left to right are Emil Kopel, Leo Lowy, Sidney Taussig and George Brady. Their story, and that of the genesis of the oratorio, is told in the film The Boys of Terezin.

Libretto by David Mason (b.1954) and Poems by Petr Ginz (1928-1944), Hanuš Hachenburg (1929-1944), Zdeněk Ornest aka Orče (1929-1990), and Josef Taussig (1914-1945).

The Transports; Memories of Prague; Home Number One; Vedem; Five; Just A Little Warmth; In Terezin The Mind Was Free; Thoughts: Like Leaves About To Fall; Love In The Floodgates; We Were Alive, Approximately; A Model Ghetto; They Are Gone; Farewell To Summer; We Were No Different Than You.

This oratorio was commissioned by Mina Miller, Founder and Artistic Director of Music of Remembrance, and made possible by a generous grant from the William O and K Carole Ellison Foundation. Music of Remembrance (MOR) premiered the work at the Illsley Ball Recital Hall in Benaroya Hall in Seattle, WA on May 10, 2010. The songs from the oratorio can be sung independently as a separate song cycle (Vedem Songs). To purchase the Naxos recording of the premiere, featuring The Northwest Boychoir, please click here.

The work can also be performed with children’s chorus instead of boychoir. The oratorio has been staged by Opera Orlando and Indianapolis Opera. Please contact me regarding the oratorio score and parts or for any licensing questions. More information can be found in my Opera Catalog (see Opera Page).

See also Vedem Songs and Vedem Choral Cycle.

The post Vedem: A Holocaust Oratorio appeared first on Lori Laitman, Composer.