Rivers Singers Connect with History
Music became a vehicle for understanding history this weekend for 19 young women from The Rivers School.
Music became a vehicle for understanding history this weekend for 19 young women from The Rivers School. The students, who make up the Upper School Women's Chorus, sang a work performed in the Nazi concentration camp Terezin as well as a new work inspired by the music of Terezin, and talked with Holocaust survivors.
The Terezin Chamber Music Foundation sponsored the weekend events to honor the spirit and work of artists, musicians and writers lost in the concentration camp outside Prague in the Czech Republic. The Saturday workshops were held at Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham, and the concert took place at the Colonnade Hotel in Boston Monday night.
Ela Weisberger, an original cast member of the children's opera "Brundibar" at Terezin, joined the Rivers girls in concert. Edgar Krasa, another Terezin survivor, also participated in the weekend, which was entitled PEACE for Performing Excellence and Cultural Exchange.
Cambridge composer Thomas Oboe Lee wrote "The Flowers of Terezin" for the occasion and rehearsed with student singers from Rivers and The Winsor School. Fred Jodry, director of choral studies at Brown University, conducted the singers in both rehearsal and concert.
Meeting and talking with Weisberg and Krasa impressed the Rivers students.
"They were really youthful, very excited, very eager," noted Rivers freshman Lindsay Bloom. "They were really open. They let us be part of their experience."
Senior Karen Laakko added that the high musical standards of the weekend raised her level of singing.
"I was really sweating it," Laakko said. "We only got one of the pieces two weeks ago, and the other later. But it turned out okay. I found out we could learn a piece quickly."
The opportunity to combine with other voices was also a highlight.
"To be doubled in size with the Winsor chorus really improved our singing," said freshman Abby Davids.
Susan Emmanouilidis, director of the Rivers chorus, called the weekend a terrific opportunity for the students.
"It's really important for students from different schools to connect in a non-competitive way," she said. "It's also great to work on a piece that has been written especially for you."
Working with Holocaust survivors on music that was part of their concentration camp history, she added, has a tremendous educational impact.
"You feel the tragedy," Emmanouilidis said, "but you also hear that they've gone on with their lives. You want your students to understand how to keep a sense of hope in a situation that seems hopeless."
One part of the weekend, the premier of Lee's "The Flowers of Terezin" on Sunday night, was canceled due to the blizzard. Organizers hope to reschedule the performance in the spring.
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The Terezin Chamber Music Foundation sponsored the weekend events to honor the spirit and work of artists, musicians and writers lost in the concentration camp outside Prague in the Czech Republic. The Saturday workshops were held at Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham, and the concert took place at the Colonnade Hotel in Boston Monday night.
Ela Weisberger, an original cast member of the children's opera "Brundibar" at Terezin, joined the Rivers girls in concert. Edgar Krasa, another Terezin survivor, also participated in the weekend, which was entitled PEACE for Performing Excellence and Cultural Exchange.
Cambridge composer Thomas Oboe Lee wrote "The Flowers of Terezin" for the occasion and rehearsed with student singers from Rivers and The Winsor School. Fred Jodry, director of choral studies at Brown University, conducted the singers in both rehearsal and concert.
Meeting and talking with Weisberg and Krasa impressed the Rivers students.
"They were really youthful, very excited, very eager," noted Rivers freshman Lindsay Bloom. "They were really open. They let us be part of their experience."
Senior Karen Laakko added that the high musical standards of the weekend raised her level of singing.
"I was really sweating it," Laakko said. "We only got one of the pieces two weeks ago, and the other later. But it turned out okay. I found out we could learn a piece quickly."
The opportunity to combine with other voices was also a highlight.
"To be doubled in size with the Winsor chorus really improved our singing," said freshman Abby Davids.
Susan Emmanouilidis, director of the Rivers chorus, called the weekend a terrific opportunity for the students.
"It's really important for students from different schools to connect in a non-competitive way," she said. "It's also great to work on a piece that has been written especially for you."
Working with Holocaust survivors on music that was part of their concentration camp history, she added, has a tremendous educational impact.
"You feel the tragedy," Emmanouilidis said, "but you also hear that they've gone on with their lives. You want your students to understand how to keep a sense of hope in a situation that seems hopeless."
One part of the weekend, the premier of Lee's "The Flowers of Terezin" on Sunday night, was canceled due to the blizzard. Organizers hope to reschedule the performance in the spring.
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