A couple of weeks ago, the Children's Chorus of San Antonio were part of a remarkable moment in the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio. In the words of HMMSA Events Coordinator Robin Long, "We've been 25 years in San Antonio, and we needed a performance section for our gala. I came across 'Brundibár,' a children's opera written before World War II."
The opera, by Hans Krása, is most famous for its performances by the children of the Terezín concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. Only three of the 500 children survived the camp.
So the museum got in touch with the Children's Chorus, and asked if they could perform the opera. Children's Chorus Director Dr. Carolyn Cruse says the children rose to the occasion, grasping the emotional meaning, and, not least, conquering the difficult challenges. "We worked very hard to make all the musical aspects as wonderful as possible so that this performance would reach as many people as it could."
And reach they did. Long recounts, "It was amazing, because at the end, when the children stopped singing and they turned to watch the video of the actual children, you could've dropped a pin in a room of 600 people. Not a sound was made. And the children brought it out. It was their voices, their love, and their inspiration that gave voice to children who never got to be adults."
On March 19, they recreated the performance for Children's Chorus parents at Alamo Heights United Methodist Church. Texas Public Radio was there to record it. You can hear the performance, and interview, at the above link.
