Friday 5 October 2007

Terezín Chamber Music Foundation

The Terezín Chamber Music Foundation will announce its first commission at its annual benefit concert on Wednesday Evening, October 10, 2007. The commission is in collaboration with renowned soprano Dawn Upshaw and composer Michael Ward-Bergeman.

The evening features Grammy Award-Winning Pianist and Conductor Robert Spano and Boston Symphony Orchestra Members.

Mr. Spano and BSO members will perform a recreation of a 1943 concert given by prisoners in the barracks of the Terezín concentration camp. This benefit concert will be a celebration and memorial tribute to the lost genius of Terezín composer Gideon Klein.

For tickets: Benefit Concert

Michael's statement:

"It is an honour to accept this commission from the Terezin Chamber Music Foundation. I feel that I have quite a journey ahead of me. This commission is about continuing the search for the truth about the human spirit, and sharing the discoveries through music. I believe it is through life’s challenges that the truth about ourselves can be learned. We are all too aware of the atrocities of war, of concentration camps, of death and suffering. The music and art created in the Terezín camp points us to a truth about ourselves that we can not deny; the truth that we are an inherently creative people, able to create beauty in the most unbeautiful situations, able to reap inspiring, healing, and transforming ideas from deep within ourselves, despite impossible circumstances. I am grateful for the invitation to be both a witness and participant in this journey along with my friend Dawn Upshaw."