ORLANDO, Fla. – Opera Orlando is teaming up with the Dr. Phillips Center, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Orlando Sings and The Defiant Requiem Foundation for a show where the ticket sale proceeds will be donated to the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida.
Right now, the center is working on building a new museum in downtown Orlando, where visitors will learn the history of the Holocaust through state-of-the art technology and survivor testimonies.
Recommended Videos
The Opera Orlando Orlando director said “Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín” will have a powerful message, celebrating the resiliency of people when faced with war and other atrocities.
“I hope that people truly feel the profound power of our shared humanity through the music and story of ‘Defiant Requiem,’ that they feel inspired to seek for and find beauty and joy even amidst their hardest times, and that as a result we as a community might come together around a common goal to seek the goodness in each other no matter what our differences might be,” said Gabriel Preisser, general director for Opera Orlando.
The Defiant Requiem Foundation founder and creator of “Defiant Requiem,” maestro Murry Sidlin, will narrate the concert while also conducting a 150-member chorus with of singers from Opera Orlando and Orlando Sings, a 70-piece orchestra from Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and a quartet of soloists.
Two actors will tell the story of how imprisoned Czech composer, Rafael Schächter, taught a chorus of fellow prisoners “Verdi’s Requiem” to sing in defiance of their Nazi captors.
The concert recreates that performance while also including video testimony from survivors of the original Terezín chorus, and footage from a 1944 Nazi propaganda film about Theresienstadt concentration camp.
“Given the connection to the Holocaust and the nature of the piece, we all felt this presentation should be positioned more as a community event, a benefit concert and raise funds for our local Holocaust Center,” Preisser explained.
So far, the concert has already raised $80,000 in ticket sales, with a goal of getting to $100,000.
The concert lasts two hours with no intermission. Tickets start at just $49. Click here to purchase tickets.
Students and educators can see the show for free. Email Opera Orlando to claim your free tickets at info@operaorlando.org.
Before the Saturday concert, Opera Orlando is screening a documentary film on Wednesday about “Defiant Requiem” with more historical context and insight into how maestro Sidlin created the piece.
The free screening of the 85-minute documentary will also include a Q&A session with the maestro after both showings of the film.
You can catch the film inside the Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Dr. Phillips Center.
This event is free, but an RSVP is required. Click here to RSVP.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: