IRANIAN AMERICAN JEWISH FEDERATION TO SPONSOR “DEFIANT REQUIEM: VERDI AT TEREZIN” AT UCLA’S ROYCE HALL APRIL 17
RECEPTION CHAIRED BY YAS YADEGAR BARAVARIAN AND DR. SHEILA YAFAI BOLOUR FEATURES CONVERSATION WITH AMBASSADOR STUART EIZENSTAT
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust and The Defiant Requiem Foundation present the acclaimed concert-drama “Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín,” Wednesday, April 17, at 8:00 PM at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
Presented worldwide more than 40 times since premiering in 2002, the performance tells the story of the courageous Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp (Terezín) who performed Verdi’s Requiem while experiencing the depths of human degradation. With only a single smuggled score, they performed the celebrated oratorio 16 times, including one performance before senior SS officials from Berlin and an International Red Cross delegation. Conductor Rafael Schächter, who was forced to reconstitute the choir three times as members were transported to Auschwitz, told the choir, “We will sing to the Nazis what we cannot say to them.” The performances came to symbolize resistance and defiance and demonstrated the prisoners’ courage.
The performance will be preceded by a VIP pre-concert cocktail reception chaired by Yas Yadegar Baravarian and Dr. Sheila Yafai Bolour, with reception committee members Rachel Farahnik, Shandy Gabayzadeh, Angela Maddahi, Atoosa Nehorai and Hava Rahimian.
The reception will feature a conversation with Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat, The Defiant Requiem Foundation Board Chair, who was instrumental in the Carter administration’s issuance of 50,000 special visas to Iranians whose lives were threatened by the Iranian Revolution. Eizenstat has served in senior leadership positions in three U.S. administrations, including Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to President Carter, and Under Secretary of State, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union in the Clinton Administration. He has successfully negotiated major agreements with European countries providing belated justice for victims of the Holocaust, including restitution of property, payment for slave and forced laborers, recovery of looted art and bank accounts, and payment of insurance policies. Last month, Ambassador Eizenstat helped to negotiate an agreement with France that will provide compensation to survivors and their heirs for the French government’s role in deporting Jews to Nazi death camps via French trains.
Actress Mayim Bialik, who plays Amy Farrah Fowler on “The Big Bang Theory,” is Honorary Chair of the concert. The presenting sponsor for the event is the Iranian American Jewish Federation.
The performance will be conducted by Defiant Requiem Foundation President, Maestro Murry Sidlin. Tony Award-winning actor John Rubinstein will portray imprisoned conductor Rafael Schächter, and David Prather will play the role of the Lecturer. Music will be performed by the Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale, with soloists Aga Mikolaj, Ann McMahon Quintero, Edgaras Montvidas and Nathan Stark.
Best seats are available as part of sponsorship packages, which begin at $250. Sponsors are invited to attend both the VIP post-concert dessert reception and the pre-concert cocktail reception with Ambassador Eizenstat. The event benefits Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.
For more information about sponsorship packages, visit www.lamoth.org, email development@lamoth.org or call 323-456-5078. Click here for general admission tickets, which begin at $45.