Monday, 20 April 2020
Cast members from productions in the UK & Belgium come together on-line Howard Moody's Push: Marking the 77th anniversary of a significant moment in the Belgian Resistance
Labels:
on-line
77 years ago today, three men from the Belgian Resistance succeeded in raiding a Nazi railway convoy, carrying 1600 Jewish deportees, with just one pistol; 238 men, women and children jumped off the train transporting them to Auschwitz. Among the escapees was an 11-year-old Jewish boy from Brussels, Simon Gronowski, who was pushed off the train by his mother.
In 2013, Gronowski told the story to composer Howard Moody and the result was Moody's community opera, Push which was premiered in 2016 at Bexhill, commissioned by the Battle Festival and a co-production with Glyndebourne. The opera has gone on to have a number of other performances and productions, including at La Monnaie in Brussels, Salisbury, London and Chichester.
All four productions of Push have drawn together a large community chorus from each of the cities in which it has been performed, together with children from local schools and amateur singers of all ages, actively engaging professional musicians with their local communities.
Now, on YouTube, singers from all four casts formed a giant virtual choir. 150 singers and musicians have recorded themselves in their living rooms singing the finale 'Ma Vie n’est que Miracles', including soloists James Newby, Sheva Tehoval, Tereza Gevorgyan, Ivan Ludlow, Lars Thorkildsen, Ciaran O'Donovan, Eleanor Farmer, Carlos Bruneel (flute) and Howard Moody (piano), mixed by film editor Shogo Hino.
The date of its release today marks the 77th anniversary of the Belgian Resistance's finest moment, the raid on the 20th Convoy. The final scene of PUSH is the moment when all the voices come together to express optimism in a dark world.
You can also catch the full production from La Monnaie in Brussels on YouTube, with James Newby as Simon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Leslie Olive rehearsing the Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra in St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds (Photo: Bill Hiskett) Mendelssohn...
-
Angel's Bone by Du Yun and Royce Vavrek English National Opera at Aviva Studios, Manchester Du Yun: Angel's Bone - English Na...
-
Helen Charlston (Photo: Julien Gazeau) On 8 May, mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston has a new solo disc out on BIS . It is something of a contr...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
James Baillieu (Photo: David Ruano) From this year, pianist James Baillieu and conductor/composer Ryan Wigglesworth begin a three-year tenu...
-
Peter Tranchell (Courtesy: Independent Society of Musicians) Peter Tranchell: Tu es Petrus in fuga , Seven Pieces in Alphabetical Order, The...
-
Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida On 12 June 2016, a gunman opened fire at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The attack killed 49 ...
-
Suddenly it's that time of year and the BBC Proms programme has been launched again. This year there are 72 concerts at the Royal Albert...
-
Verdi: Rigoletto - Royal Opera (© ROH 2023 Photo: Tristram Kenton) Verdi: Rigoletto ; Liparit Avetisyan, Robyn Allegra Parton, Hansung Yoo,...
-
Anton Reicha was a Bohemia-born, Bavarian-educated, later naturalized French composer, who was a friend and contemporary of Beethoven. Whils...
No comments:
Post a Comment