Upcoming events

The 2016 Rafael Schächter Institute for Arts and Humanities in New York, New York
The Defiant Requiem Foundation will present its annual Schächter Institute in New York City from May 3-10, 2016, in partnership with the Czech Center New York.  Barbara Karpetová, Director of Center and former Cultural Counselor at the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC, has graciously offered the use of the beautiful Bohemian National Hall located at 321 E. 73rd Street.  The Institute will open on Tuesday evening, May 3, with a moving one-woman theatrical performance entitled The Tin Ring, a dramatization of Holocaust survival based on Zdenka Fantlová’s autobiography.  Among other events, the Foundation will perform Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer, a new concert/drama created by Murry Sidlin, on Thursday, May 5, in honor of Yom HaShoah.  The Institute will conclude with a screening of its award-winning documentary film, Defiant Requiem, on the evening of Tuesday, May 10 (TBC).

Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer Performance in Jerusalem, Israel
Building on the success of our 2012 performance of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín, The Defiant Requiem Foundation will return to the Israel Festival Jerusalem in either late-May or early-June 2016 (date to be confirmed) to present the Israel premiere of Murry Sidlin’s newest concert-drama, Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer.  Showcasing music by fifteen composers imprisoned in Terezín during WWII, Hours of Freedom combines video, music, and narrative to highlight compositions by Viktor Ullmann, Gideon Klein, Zikmund Schul, Pavel Haas, Rudolf Karel, and ten others.  Some of the compositions reflect the personal, eyewitness account of the agony and suffering of camp life, while others express the assurance of a return to life as it was before the war.

The music in Hours of Freedom includes solo works, duets, trios and quartets along with compositions for nine and fourteen instrumentalists.  The program also features four singers and an actor who, along with Maestro Sidlin, tell the story of why these composers created new music as affirmation of a future.  This performance will take place in Henry Crown Hall at The Jerusalem Theater, and will feature internationally recognized pianist Phillip Silver, the Prague-based string quartet fama Q, and singers from Prague.  As part of a special collaboration, it will also include advanced musicians from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance.  Through this unique experience, we hope these young performers will become strong advocates for the composers of Terezín.

Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín to be performed in Vienna, Austria
The Defiant Requiem Foundation is pleased to announce the Austrian premiere of Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín.  Under the leadership of Board Member Randy Bell and Board Chair Stu Eizenstat, the performance was confirmed after months of negotiations.  The concert will take place on September 20, 2016, at the historic Konzerthaus Vienna with the world-renowned Orchester Wiener Akademie and Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno.  With an early gift from Ambassador Swanee Hunt, the former U.S. Ambassador to Austria, in honor of her late husband Maestro Charles Ansbacher, a grant from the Austrian Future Fund, and enthusiastic support from the Austrian Parliament, Jewish Community of Vienna, and the Austrian Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs, the concert is positioned to attract a wide audience in the Austrian capitol.  In conjunction with the concert, the Foundation is organizing a Patron Tour to Prague and Vienna.  This five-star excursion will include private visits to many important historical and cultural locations and offer exclusive insights into the Defiant Requiem story.  Look for more details in the coming months and please plan on joining us in Austria in the fall of 2016!

Full List of 2016 Upcoming Events
February 18, 2016 – Chicago, Illinois
Defiant Requiem Film Screening
DePaul University
For more information please click here.

April 4, 2016 – Anchorage, Alaska
Defiant Requiem Film Screening
For more information and tickets, please click here.

April 8 and 10, 2016 – Anchorage, Alaska
Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín Performances
Anchorage Concert Chorus
Atwood Concert Hall
For more information and tickets, please click here.

Late-May/Early-June (date to be confirmed) – Jerusalem, Israel
Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer Performance
Israel Festival Jerusalem
Henry Crown Hall, The Jerusalem Theater
For more information about the Festival, please click here.

September 20, 2016 – Vienna, Austria
Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín Performance
Orchester Wiener Akademie
Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno
Konzerthaus Vienna
More information available soon.