‘Defiant Requiem’ film screening and concert by the Silver Duo, Oct. 29
UMaine will host a screening of the award-winning holocaust documentary “Defiant Requiem,” followed by a concert by the Silver Duo featuring music composed by concentration camp prisoners.
The screening and concert will take place at 1 p.m., Oct. 29 in Minsky Recital Hall, and is free and open to the public.
“Defiant Requiem” tells the story of acts of defiance and resistance against the Nazis by prisoners at Terezín concentration camp during World War II. Imprisoned conductor Rafael Schächter taught 150 prisoners to perform Verdi’s “Requiem,” to help them sustain hope and courage and to sing to the Nazis what they dared not say.
Murry Sidlin, president and creative director of the Defiant Requiem Foundation, will be present to discuss the film. Sidlin’s multimedia concert, “Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín,” inspired the making of the film.
Following the screening, UMaine professors Noreen Silver, cello, and Phillip Silver, piano, will perform a selection of music composed in the Terezín.
The film is a powerful and sensitive statement on the ability of human beings to find inspiration and dignity through music in the most inhuman of places, says Phillip.
For the past four years, Philip has been performing in an ensemble directed by Sidlin that focuses on the composers imprisoned in Terezín and the music they composed while there.
“As the lurch into darkness infects more and more places in our world, this film gains in importance and relevance to remind and hopefully prevent a return to the truly terrible times in which the events portrayed occurred,” adds Philip.
This event is co-sponsored by the University of Maine Judaic Studies Program, congregations Beth Abraham, Beth El, and Beth Israel in Bangor, and by a grant from the Jewish Community Endowment Associates.
For more information contact Philip, 207.581.1783. To request a disability accommodation, contact Kerry Davis, 207.581.4703.
Contact: Alan Berry, 581.1955