Tri° Michigan Opera Theatre Children's Chorus
presents
Sunday, March 16, 2014
at 2:30 p.m.
•• •
Still from 1944 Nazi propaganda film showing the cast of Brundibar
Kushner, who renders the jocular, jan-
gling Czech of the original into a simi-
larly playful English idiom.
The singers will be dressed in chil-
dren's clothing of the 1940s, such as their
counterparts of 70 years ago might have
worn. And indeed, these children are like
those — taking pride in their music and
relishing the enormous fun of this light-
hearted opera.
For the kids of Theresienstadt, though
experiencing tremendous suffering, never
stopped being kids. They joked; they
danced; they made opera rehearsals a wild
struggle for the artistic staff.
As one cast member reported in an
underground camp newspaper, "Have any
of you ever been a director and had to deal
with 50 strapping boys and charming girls
who are convinced that the more noise
and fun during the rehearsals, the better?
No, it's not easy"
I sympathize with these directors. The
MOTCC can be likewise spirited, and a
good thing that is. For are not all children
wonderfully alike in this way? They have
in them the unripened energy of their
early years; they are flowers not fully
formed, with the petals of their potential
(a potential that Theresienstadt's young-
two younger sisters, also musicians.
"I wish it was more because I miss
my family. At the moment, when I come
to Israel, I also perform a lot — solo or
with my ensemble, the Israeli Chamber
Project, so I don't get to spend as much
time with them as I would want,"
said the violinist, whose piano trio
has recorded his father's composition
Yemenite Fantasy
"There is a YouTube of [my father's]
Hora for violin and piano, played by
pianist Ron Trachtman and myself,"
added Zorman, who holds degrees
from the Jerusalem Academy of Music,
the Juilliard School and the Manhattan
School of Music. He has received
scholarships from the American-Israeli
Cultural Foundation, which assists
Israeli artists in many disciplines.
During the past five seasons, Zorman
has toured with orchestras and cham-
ber ensembles in Europe, Israel and
the U.S., and music critics have compli-
mented him as a "virtuoso of emotions."
For now, he is equally committed to
orchestral and chamber music because
"they both help me get better," he
explained.
The March 8 and 9 programs, in
which Pauline Martin will accompany
Zorman on piano, include Brahms'
Sonata No. 3 in d minor, Bach's
Unaccompanied Sonata in C Major,
• • • •
• • • • • • •
• • •
Conducted by Diana Hochella
Directed by Michael Yashinsky
Performed in English
•
•
• • • • • • • • • • • • •
• •
sters were not given a chance to realize)
just opening before them.
Flowers — representative of beauty
growing even in a place of ugliness — are
a motif of our show. They figure in the
historical curtain-raiser I have written,
Lilies Among Thorns; they appear in the
Theresienstadt drawings by Weissberger
featured in the set; they are carried by the
young heroes and heroines of the opera.
We offer you these blooms when you
come to our production. Take them, and
strive to bring love and light into the world
as Brundibar's children once did and con-
tinue to do. ❑
L) I.) I.)
•
First performed by children in a Nazi
concentration camp in 1942, this fairytale
tells the story of siblings Little Joe and
Annette who join forces with a fearless
sparrow, keen cat and wise dog to outwit
the evil organ grinder Brundibar.
L)
Performed by the acclaimed
Michigan Opera Theatre Children's Chorus,
under the direction of Suzanne Mallare Acton.
DETROIT
JN
JEWISH NEWS
SPECIAL APPEARANCE!
Michael Yashinsky, community engagement
coordinator at the Detroit Opera House, is the
director of the children's opera Brundibar.
Holocaust survivor Ela Weissberger,
who played the leading role of "Cat"
in "Brundibar", shares the story of
how art and music inspired her
hope for survival.
Media Partner
T— 7
A VV
Am an
Nettanoi
Endowment
/affiance
This activity is supported by the MICHIGAN COUNCIL
FOR ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS and the
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.
Brundibar will be performed at
For more info visit MOTCC.org
2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at
the Detroit Opera House. $15
children/$30 adults/$50 patrons
(includes box seat plus meet-and-
greet with Eva Weissberger and
the cast). (313) 237-7464; www.
michiganopera.org .
TICKETS AND PRE-PAID PARKING:
313.237.SING or michiganopera.org
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER
ZEKELMAN FAMILY CAMPUS
Community Education and Outreach Parber
Lil and Alex Erdeljan, Production Sponsor
Worthington Family Foundation,
Education Material & Student Ticket Sponsor
1898590
Ravel's Tsigane and Sonata No. 4 by
Friedrich Gernsheim, a Jewish composer
and a Brahms contemporary.
Gernsheim's work has been "unjustly
neglected," said Zorman, who calls the
Sonata No. 4 "a virtuosic piece for violin
and piano. Brahms and Gernsheim are
nice bookends — both romantic with
different styles."
Zorman first performed the Sonata No.
4 in Seoul, South Korea, and has recorded
it on the Profil-Editions Gunter Hanssler
label, which will release it this spring.
After leaving Michigan, Zorman will
perform at the Louvre in France and
then embark on an East Coast tour,
including a concert in Carnegie Hall's
Weill Recital Hall with the Lysander
Piano Trio. He will return to Michigan to
perform with the Ann Arbor Symphony
Orchestra on April 3. ❑
Itamar Zorman, with Pauline
Martin, performs at 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 8, at Kerrytown
Concert House in Ann Arbor,
$5-$30, (734) 769-2999 or
www.kerrytownconcerthouse.
com ; and at 3 p.m. Sunday,
March 9, at First Presbyterian
Church in Farmington Hills, $10-
$30, (586) 944-5353 or www.
chambersoloistsofdetroit.org .
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