Music of Remembrance

Music of Remembrance celebrated its 25th milestone anniversary during the 2022/23 season with six major concerts. We produced three programs on our mainstage at seattle's benaroya hall, one in san francisco and two in chicago, in collaboration with chicago opera theater. Additionally, we continued our online programming of past programs, which we offered free of charge. On our october 30, 2022, concert, titled "josephine," we presented composer tom cipullo's opera based on the life of the acclaimed black american entertainer josephine baker, a war hero, and civil rights activist. Our march 19, 2023, program featured "intonations: songs from the violins of hope," a song cycle by jake heggie and gene scheer inspired by a historic collection of string instruments from the holocaust. We also reprised a dance commission by choreographer donald byrd with dancers from spectrum dance theater. We toured our may concert, a double of two of our most successful commissions by heggie and scheer, to san francisco and chicago. While our mission continues to resonate strongly with holocaust survivors and their families, we have a history of presenting works that emphasize the experience of other groups that have faced exclusion or persecution, both historically and today, including bipoc communities. Knowing that many audience members remained reluctant or unable to attend live performances, we also continued to stream online programs capable of reaching people everywhere. These included three newly-produced online concerts, in addition to archived performances that we streamed throughout the year. Along with its repertoire of holocaust-era Music, Music of Remembrance commissions and premieres new holocaust-inspired works by some of todays leading composers, building bridges across generations and sharing stories that underline the holocausts urgent relevance for us now. To date, the organization has funded the creation and production of numerous new musical works, dance commissions, and documentary films.