The
Cantata Singers Chamber Series presents
One of the most extraordinary and touching operas ever composed will be retold on April 23 and 24, 2006 when the Cantata Singers Chamber Series presents Hans Krása’s Brundibár. First performed in 1943 by children of the Nazi concentration camp in Terezín, Czechoslovakia, this simple story about friendship and good conquering evil became a powerful emblem of courage, justice, and symbolic victory over brutal Nazi oppression for the inhabitants of Terezín, where the composer was imprisoned in 1942. Brundibár tells of two children whose efforts to raise money to buy milk for their sick mother are thwarted by an evil organ-grinder. With the help of some friendly animals, the children outwit their nemesis in this moving, bittersweet musical fable that was performed over fifty times by children of Terezín. Music Director Kayo Iwama and Stage Director Lynn Torgove lead members of the Cantata Singers and PALS Children’s Chorus (Johanna Hill Simpson, Director) in this fully-staged production. Performances will be held Sunday, April 23, 2006 at 3 p.m. at the Media Arts Center at Roxbury Community College, 1234 Columbus Avenue; and Monday, April 24, 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Theatre of New England in the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center, 333 Nahanton Street in Newton Center. The performance, performed in English, lasts approx. 45 minutes and is appropriate for school-age children. Each performance will be preceded by a talk by Dr. Joshua Jacobson, Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Northeastern University, and founder/director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston. Sunday · April 23 · 3 p.m. Click here to download a discount ticket order form for schools, PALS Children's Chorus, and Synagogues. Monday · April 24 · 7:30 p.m. For those attending the JCC performance, please visit http://www.lsjcc.org for directions. The Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center is located inside Gosman Jewish Community Campus. Once you have entered the campus, follow the main road past the buildings on your left, and the JCC is further down the road, set back on the left. There is a circular drive to your left that passes by the front doors of the JCC, which is well-marked. Once inside the JCC, you will pass by the security desk. The performance is located in the main auditorium on your left. Brundibár performed by arrangement
with Bote & Bock/Berlin and Hendon Music, Inc., a Boosey & Hawkes
company. Photo © Ghetto Museum, Terezín. Reprinted with
kind permission. Special outreach event! Story Synopsis and Cast The two Brundibár heroes, Annette and
Little Joe, have to buy some milk for their sick mother. They have
no money and they soon learn that without money, they won't be able
to buy anything. They watch the villainous organ grinder Brundibár
playing the organ and being paid. Annette and Little Joe try to sing
and make some money, but Brundibár chases them away. Tired,
they sit under a tree and fall asleep. Three friendly animals, Sparrow,
Dog and Pussycat, decide to help them. They gather a group of school
children and in the morning they all sing together. People like their
singing and pay them. Brundibár tries to interfere, but to no
avail. In a last attempt, he steals Joey's money, but is caught and
chased away.
Cantata Singers Chamber Series Brundibar: John Graef
Baker: Angelynne Hinson
Milkmaid: Laurelle Mathison
Ice Cream Man:
Richard Simpson
Policeman: Brian Bennett
Big Cat:
Sarah Hall
Big Sparrow: Sungmi Oh Big Dog: Emily Marvosh And featuring members of the PALS Children's Chorus: Brother: Becky Danning About Brundibar The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews, the Nazi film given that title without irony, presents the quaintly walled Czech town, Terezin, and lively scenes of the life of its cultured inhabitants. The town, also spoken of as Theresienstadt, had become a swept and polished movie set, prepared to document the sequestered and carefree existence of thousands of Europe’s Jewish people, allegedly leading comfortable lives under Herr Hitler’s fatherly, watchful eye. Listen: we can hear hundreds of voices of children and their audience singing together the final triumphal chorus of Brundibar. Listen more closely; look behind the façades of the hastily cleaned rooms of the movie. This is, in fact, the concentration camp of Terezin, supervised by the Nazi SS and only beautified superficially for the propaganda purposes of this film. What we hear is actually the secretly subversive opera, Brundibar, by Hans Krasa who created it within the famous musical traditions of Vienna and of Prague and led its performances over and over in the camp to keep courage and hope alive. For inside these city walls, the Jews of Eastern Europe—among them artists and musicians, poets and professors—lived as prison inmates, awaiting transport to the gas chambers. How is it possible that music could be written and performed under such circumstances? How do children sing, violinists play, conductors lead when there is too little food, when too many people are forced to live in too little space, when an evil force seems to have closed all the doors on sunshine and goodness and the rest of the world? And yet—Hans Krasa wrote Brundibar in 1938, and its first performance took place in a Jewish orphanage in Prague in 1941, just before his internment in Terezin. He led, with colleagues, fifty-five official performances and many more unofficial ones in the camp before he was transported to his death in 1944. On the surface, the story is a simple and appealing one, in which children, singing to earn money to pay for milk for their sick mother, outwit a wicked organ grinder. In fact, Brundibar is an allegory that acknowledges the power of unity and determination to defeat evil. Music and goodness triumph, and voices are indeed raised in a song of celebration—even within the walls of the Fuhrer’s vile gift. The opera has survived, its music “buoyant, melodic and charming.” Other compositions from Terezin in music, art and poetry have also survived. With respect, we can honor this legacy today. We invite you to prepare with us with two-four sessions in your classroom. We have several goals for our sessions and will adapt the content and pedagogy to the age of the children with whom we work:
For more information, please contact the Cantata Singers at 617-868-5885 or one of the following: Lisa Stiller, Executive Director lstiller@cantatasingers.org Classroom Cantatas “Classroom Cantatas” is the ongoing education and outreach program of Cantata Singers in the Boston Public Schools. During a twelve-session residency, students work with texts they have written in their Language Arts or Social Studies classes. In small groups under the leadership of professional musicians they learn some of the expressive potential of music and then compose their own music to convey the emotional and narrative content of their texts. They teach the songs to each other and, as a class, perform their cantata for various audiences. Writing and performing their cantata offers the students the challenge of expressing their own personal experiences and individual ideas through music and of then sharing that work with others. In preparation for the yearly family concert, we extend our education program to help make the concert accessible and inviting to young people. With larger groups or in individual classes musician-teachers explore the background of the composer, listen to other works, study the composition and the context and sing selections from the work to be performed. The concert is always interactive, encouraging the audience to participate with the performers in a variety of ways. In preparation for Brundibar we will work in both urban and suburban schools, with as many young people as time and funding allows. Collaborators and Resources The Cantata Singers is collaborating on this project with the following organizations: Facing History and Ourselves, The Terezín Music Foundation, the Jewish Theatre of New England, and PALS Children’s Chorus. For more information on our collaborators, as well educational resources for Brundibár, Terezín, and the Holocaust, please visit the following sites: http://www.facinghistory.org Home | About Us | Concerts | Tickets | News | Education | Recordings | Contact | Donate Now Last Update:
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