A year ago I was commissioned by the Terezin Music Foundation to write a new choral work in honor of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camps. In the process, I got to know poets Agi Mishol and Salman Masalha and their beautiful words. I also got to work with Anthony Trecek-King and the Boston Children's Chorus and to experience their incredible energy and talent. And I got to witness Mark Ludwig's vision for the foundation: of not only commissioning living artists, but of bringing people together - poets, composers, performers, survivors, and human rights activists - to reflect on what it means to be human in this world, and to communicate it through their art to those who are willing to listen.
Tomorrow, Monday October 5th, this project will come together at Boston's Symphony Hall. I am honored to be in the company of fellow composers Pablo Ortiz and David Post, of the Boston Children's Chorus and Coro Allegro, of conductor Andris Nelsons and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and of poet Richard Blanco. I am very much looking forward to the event!