Pre-concert talk at 2:00pm featured Jamie Kirsch, CpM music director, and The Rev. Amy L. Fisher, director of the Interfaith Center and university chaplain at Suffolk University.
James Whitbourn’s Annelies is the first major choral setting of the diary of Anne Frank, which has inspired millions since it was published in 1947. Premiered in London in 2005, Annelies was praised for its “woundingly beautiful” music and an extraordinary and moving libretto that captures Anne’s keen observations and indomitable spirit. It brings the story to life with echoes of church bells, popular music, and with music from Frank’s Jewish and German heritage. The program included Hymn to the Eternal Flame, a Holocaust memorial work written for both Jewish and Christian faith communities by Stephen Paulus, one of America’s most gifted modern composers. With soprano soloist, violin, cello, clarinet and piano.
Featuring Lynn Eustis, soprano, who sang the U.S. premiere of Annelies.
Stephen Paulus: Hymn to the Eternal Flame (2005)
James Whitbourn: Annelies (2005); libretto based on the Diary of Anne Frank
Featuring Lynn Eustis, soprano, who sang the U.S. premiere of Annelies.
Concert length: approx. 90 minutes; no intermission.
Learn more about Annelies:
Libretto by Melanie Challenger, based on Anne Frank’s diary
“Anne Frank’s own words endure in Westminster Williamson Voices Concert” (a NJ.com article)
An interview with composer James Whitbourn
Boston Musical Intelligencer: “It was impressive to hear the piece sung with perfect ensemble and solid pitch… It was a welcome gesture of consolation.”