BACH IN BALTIMORE WILL PERFORM VERDI REQUIEM AT 2018 YOM HA’SHOAH HOLOCAUST COMMEMORATION

February 7, 2018

(Baltimore)—Bach in Baltimore announced today it will perform at the 2018 Yom Ha’Shoah Holocaust Commemoration: A Tribute to the Human Spirit: Verdi’s Requiem on Sunday, April 15, 2018 at 4 p.m. at Chizuk Amuno Congregation. This FREE Baltimore-wide community event to remember the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust includes a Holocaust Commemoration Ceremony and large-scale performance of Verdi’s Requiem sponsored by the Baltimore Jewish Council, Baltimore Board of Rabbis, The Jewish Museum of Maryland, The Associated and it’s Agencies, Samuel I. Rosenberg Endowment Fund, Chizuk Amuno Congregation, The Peggy and Yale Gordon Trust, Markland C. Kelly, Jr. Foundation, William G. Baker, Jr. Foundation, and Bach in Baltimore.

Conductor and Bach in Baltimore Music Director T. Herbert Dimmock describes Verdi’s Requiem as “no ordinary funeral mass. Originally composed in 1874 in memory to the poet Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi admired, the soaring Requiem is a breathtaking and varied piece expressing a full range of emotion from terror, joy, uncertainty, and the indelible strength of the human spirit in the face of tragedy, and its connection to the Holocaust is forever linked by the prisoners of Theresienstadt, a WWII Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.” Between 1943 and 1944, the Requiem was performed 16 times by the prisoners of Theresienstadt directed by interned composer Rafael Schächter. For those brave prisoners, Verdi’s Requiem became an anthem of resistance against the Nazis.

The Holocaust Commemoration ceremony presented by the Baltimore Jewish Council and Chizuk Amuno Congregation will highlight the strength, endurance, courage, and hope of local Holocaust survivors and will include the traditional Jewish Memorial prayer led by Hazzan Emanuel C. Perlman. Throughout the Requiem, projected images will punctuate the music. The performance will feature three soloists Natanya Washer, soprano; Dr. Min Jin, tenor; and Jeffrey Williams, bass. Additionally, the Morgan State University Choir will join with Bach in Baltimore’s Choir and Orchestra—over two hundred and fifty musicians will together recreate Verdi’s “most famous opera” in remembrance of the Shoah and in affirmation of our shared humanity.

Admission to A Tribute to the Human Spirit: Verdi’s Requiem is FREE, but tickets are required. There is a $1.25 handling fee for securing tickets for the event online at BachinBaltimore.org or by calling 410-941-9262. Limited individual tickets may be available at the door 30 minutes prior to the performance, but it is strongly advised that patrons secure tickets before the event.

In addition to A Tribute to the Human Spirit: Verdi’s Requiem on April 15, the Baltimore Jewish Council and Bach in Baltimore are sponsoring a FREE film viewing of the feature-length documentary Defiant Requiem on Wednesday, April 11 at 7 p.m. in the Krieger Auditorium at Chizuk Amuno Congregation. The film depicts the story of the performance of Verdi’s Requiem in the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt. Led by imprisoned conductor Rafael Schächter, the inmates of Theresienstadt fought back…with art and music. This film presentation will enrich and deepen the performance of Verdi’s Requiem on Sunday, April 15. The film viewing is FREE and tickets are not required.

BACH IN BALTIMORE’S APRIL EVENTS

Defiant Requiem
A Film
Wednesday, April 11 at 7 p.m.
Chizuk Amuno Congregation, 8100 Stevenson Road, Pikesville, MD 21208

The feature-length documentary film Defiant Requiem depicts the story of the performance of Verdi’s Requiem in the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt. Led by imprisoned conductor Rafael Schächter, the inmates of Theresienstadt fought back…with art and music. Through hunger, disease, and slave labor, the Jewish inmates of Theresienstadt held onto their humanity by staging plays, composing operas, performing operas like Verdi’s Requiem, creating poetry and art, and using paper and ink to record the horrors around them. This film presentation will help prepare you for the performance of Verdi’s Requiem on Sunday, April 15.

This is a FREE, NON-TICKETED event

Yom Ha’Shoah 2018 Holocaust Commemoration
A TRIBUTE TO THE HUMAN SPIRIT: VERDI’S REQUIEM
Sunday, April 15 at 4 p.m.
Chizuk Amuno Congregation, 8100 Stevenson Road, Pikesville, MD 21208

Bach In Baltimore Choir & Orchestra Morgan State University Choir Natanya Washer, soprano Dr. Min Jin, tenor Jeffrey Williams, bass

Celebrate 30 years of Bach in Baltimore and commemorate Yom Ha’Shoah (Holocaust Remembrance) with A TRIBUTE TO THE HUMAN SPIRIT: VERDI’S Requiem, sponsored by the Baltimore Jewish Council, Baltimore Board of Rabbis, The Jewish Museum of Maryland, The Associated and it’s Agencies, Samuel I. Rosenberg Endowment Fund, Chizuk Amuno Congregation, Markland C. Kelly, Jr. Foundation, William G. Baker, Jr. Foundation, and Bach in Baltimore. The free afternoon program includes a Holocaust Commemoration Ceremony and a performance of Verdi’s dramatic masterpiece Requiem, a breathtaking and varied piece expressing a full range of emotion from terror, joy, uncertainty, and the indelible strength of the human spirit in the face of tragedy. Between 1943 and 1944, the Requiem was performed 16 times by the prisoners of Theresienstadt, a Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, directed by interned composer Rafael Schächter. Our performance of Verdi’s Requiem at the Chizuk Amuno Synagogue will feature the Morgan State University Choir joining Bach in Baltimore’s Choir and Orchestra. Two hundred and fifty musicians will together recreate Verdi’s “most famous opera” in remembrance of the Shoah and in affirmation of our shared humanity.

This a FREE event, but tickets are required. There is a $1.25/ticket handling fee for securing tickets online at BachinBaltimore.org.

ABOUT BACH IN BALTIMORE

Bach in Baltimore’s mission is to perform the choral and instrumental works of Johann Sebastian Bach (and his contemporaries) and to educate the concert-going public about the musical language of Bach and the texts he chose to set to music.

We strive each month to present these works in a historically informed way that will enrich the lives of our audience members and inspire creativity. We wish to foster an appreciation for the arts, particularly for Baroque music, within the entire community. We are committed to providing educational experiences for people of all ages in order to instill a lifelong connection Bach’s music.

For more information, please visit Bach in Baltimore

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PRESS INQUIRIES:
Kristen LePine, Marketing Manager
kristen@bachinbaltimore.org