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Concert: Requiem in memory of Aristides de Sousa Mendes
Conductor Sharon Xavier de Sousa and the Mission Chamber Orchestra of San José, California, present a performance of the Requiem in memory of Aristides de Sousa Mendes by the Portuguese composer Luis Cipriano.
Tickets: $25 general, $20 senior, $15 student and $10 child.
To order tickets online go to www.missionchamber.org. For more information call (408) 236-3350.
Event WebsiteGala event: “A Toast to Freedom!”
Come join us at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in a beautiful setting next to the Statue of Liberty for a gala luncheon — “A Toast to Freedom!” — to benefit the Sousa Mendes Foundation.
Master of Ceremonies:
Actor Michel Gill (“House of Cards”), the son and grandson of Sousa Mendes visa recipients.
Honoring:
Congressman Jerry Nadler of New York’s 10th Congressional District, recognized by Time magazine for his political courage;
Dr. Eva Fogelman, psychologist and advocate for Holocaust survivors; author of the seminal book on Holocaust rescue, Conscience & Courage;
Maggie Favretti, teacher at Scarsdale High School; founder and advisor of the group Students for Refugees in Westchester County.
Live musical performance:
Highlights from “Circular 14: The Apotheosis of Aristides” with tenor Benjamin Sloman as Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Michel Gill narrating as his twin brother César, soprano Marina Harris as Angelina de Sousa Mendes, tenor Gilad Paz as Salazar, Pedro da Silva on Portuguese guitar, and the composer Neely Bruce at the piano.
Flowers provided by Amy’s Greenhouse.
Event WebsitePerformance in the Mormon Tabernacle for International Holocaust Remembrance Day
The Sousa Mendes Foundation and the Utah Youth Orchestras and Ensembles present a performance in the Mormon Tabernacle of the oratorio Circular 14: The Apotheosis of Aristides by Neely Bruce. This free concert, conducted by the world-renowned choral conductor Barlow Bradford, will be held on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day of 2018. The event is part of the Temple Square Concert Series.
The piece tells the dramatic true story of the Holocaust hero Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul General in Bordeaux, who saved thousands of lives in the spring of 1940 by issuing Portuguese visas to refugees desperate to escape Nazi-occupied France. From Portugal these refugees boarded ships to freedom in the United States and other final destinations.
Soloists include David Sauer, tenor (Aristides), Michelle Pedersen, soprano (Angelina), Andrew Neumayer, baritone (Rabbi Kruger), Adam Griffiths, tenor (Salazar), and Elizabeth Peters, soprano (Andrée Cibial). The narrator is the actor Michel Gill (César). An accompanying video is by Carole Kim.
Featuring the University of Utah Chamber Choir, the University of Utah A Cappella Choir, and seven high school choirs from across the state: Syracuse High School (Syracuse, UT), Pineview High School (St. George, UT), American Heritage School (American Fork, UT), Alta High School (Sandy, UT), Westlake High School (Saratoga Springs, UT), Woods Cross High School (Woods Cross, UT), and Hillcrest High School (Midvale, UT).
The Mayor of Salt Lake County, Ben McAdams, will deliver opening remarks. In attendance will be Dr. Daniel Mattis, a Sousa Mendes visa recipient living in Utah, and two of Sousa Mendes’s grandsons: Gerald Mendes and Aristides Mendes, one of whom also lives in Utah.
The piece has been performed with a reduced ensemble in Los Angeles in 2016, but this will be the first performance of the definitive version with full orchestra.
Sponsors include: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Foundation, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, the Lawrence T. and Janet T. Dee Foundation, the John and Marcia Price Family Foundation, Zions Bank, the United Jewish Federation of Utah and numerous individual donors.
Event WebsiteVirtual event: The Power of Music
Music has the unique power to transport an individual outside of the here and now. This event is a demonstration of that power. We will begin by watching the Oscar-winning short documentary film The Lady in Number 6 — Music Saved My Life (38 minutes) about the extraordinary life of concert pianist and Holocaust survivor Alice Herz Sommer. Then we will be treated to a musical response to this tender and touching film by singers Cantor Arianne Brown and Stephan Kirchgraber and composer/pianist Neely Bruce. Not to be missed!
“Mrs. Judy” – The Canadian Woman Who Secretly Rescued the Jews of Syria
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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On this Chanukah program we honor Judy Feld Carr, a woman of exceptional courage and valor who chose to make a difference. Over a 28-year period, she secretly brought to freedom 3228 Jews prohibited from emigrating from Syria. Working with smugglers and bribing government officials, she removed most of that community from veritable bondage. In addition, she clandestinely smuggled out of that country priceless ancient articles of Jewish worship. Until Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the Israeli Intelligence Organizations publicly acclaimed her activities, the world, including the Jewish world, had no inkling of this Canadian Jewish woman’s covert life. She is the subject of historian Dr. Harold Troper’s The Rescuer, now in its second edition. The rescue was the best-kept secret in the Jewish world. (more…)