VOICES OF THE HOLOCAUST

BY MICHAEL SHAPIRO

“VOICES is more than a work of remembrance, serving also as a warning from the very voices of those stilled by evil and tyranny.”

Voices

of the Holocaust

by Michael Shapiro

November 9

Temple Shaaray Tefila, Bedford, NY

November 10

Central Synagogue
New York, NY

Pre-Event Q&A with Music Icon Paul Shaffer and Composer Michael Shapiro

Free public concert based on Sephardic poetry of the Holocaust, including performances by tenor soloist Senior Cantor Daniel Mutlu, Ember Choral Arts, and the American Modern Ensemble conducted by Deborah Simpkin King.

Listen to this concert on Spotify!

  • Dr. Deborah Simpkin King Conducts

  • Ember Singers and American Modern Ensemble

  • The Full Ensemble of VOICES

  • Soloist, Cantor Daniel Mutlu

  • Musicians of American Modern Ensemble

OVERVIEW

The concept for VOICES was born more than twenty years ago when Michael Shapiro was Music Consultant to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. He wrote the hour-long piece for chorus and chamber ensemble as a setting for six of the poems from a poetry collection compiled by (and used with permission of) Isaac Jack Levy. VOICES is Mr. Shapiro’s requiem to those countless souls murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. It is indeed a Kaddish, the Aramaic word for “holy,” a hymn of sanctification. The composition is varied in tone and includes hints of cabaret, religious observance, and transcendent echoes of Jewish people, with an ending that bespeaks longing for a Jewish homeland. VOICES is not only a work of remembrance, but it is also a warning. Through this composition, the voices of those stilled by evil and tyranny will be heard.

WHY NOW?

History is witness to the human capacity for turning a blind eye. From the only-recent acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide all the way to a trivialization of the Holocaust for political gain... some distance themselves from painful realities. In VOICES, composer Shapiro immerses his audience in the concentration camp environment with echoes of the actual instruments available in the camps, including: flute, clarinet, brass, guitar, strings, drums and an out-of-tune piano. "May their VOICES be heard!"