Diaries of Hope Saturday 12 October 2013 / 20:00 / Barbican Hall Britten Sinfonia / Zbigniew Preisner, Crouch End Festival Chorus Vocalist: Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) Boy Soprano: Archie Buchanan
Tickets: £20 – 30
On 12 October the Barbican presents the UK premiere of Polish film composer Zbigniew Preisner’s Diaries of Hope – his new five-movement work for voices, strings, cello and piano, inspired by the diaries and poems of Polish children who were victims of the Holocaust.
One of the most celebrated film composers of his generation, Preisner’s idea for Diaries of Hope came from his visit with film director Krzysztof Kieslowski to the Museum Yad Vashem in Jerusalem where the composer saw the exhibition dedicated to children who were victims of the Holocaust.
He writes of the visit: ‘When I walked into that dark room, where thousands of candles were glimmering into the distance, I heard the names of the murdered children and the places of their torment, interwoven with the singing of a Cantor. I was crushed. I felt a strange fear. It was a cathartic experience. When we left the museum, Krzysztof said to me: “You have to describe it musically, you have to do it”.’
Preisner searched for material, poems and diaries written by Polish children who had experienced the Holocaust. Diaries of Hope is a tribute to the diaries of Rutka Laskier and Dawid Rubinowicz and the poems of Abram Koplowicz and Abram Cytryn.
Of the diaries, which were only discovered in the 1960s and are less well known outside Poland, Preisner writes:‘Some irrational power let them believe in salvation. They are dramatic descriptions of daily life, the history of their families and suffering. However they also write with a childish joy about each happy moment, live their dreams and believe in their future. And although these diaries suddenly just break off, these children didn’t ever lose their faith. That hope let them live and sometimes even smile. They are diaries of hope.’
The UK premiere coincides with the release of Diaries of Hope on CD, vinyl and digital.
For more information visit http://preisner.com
Barbican Box Office: 0845 120 7550
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