Silver quoted in Tablet review of Terezín orchestra concert
Tablet Magazine published a review of Defiant Requiem’s concert in Terezín, a former military compound in the Czech Republic where the Theresienstadt concentration camp was located. The 13-piece orchestra included pianist Phillip Silver, a professor of music at the University of Maine. The orchestra performed “Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer,” which featured music composed by 15 prisoners during the Holocaust, according to the article. “It is difficult, if not impossible, to decontextualize the composer from the experience. No one has any difficulty discussing Beethoven’s music in the context of his deafness,” Silver said. If anything, he said he thinks the context magnifies the unique qualities of the music. “If one could hypothetically remove the context and background of these works, that uniqueness would remain,” he said.