I Never Saw Another Butterfly
Songs of Terezin Concentration Camp
In a day and age when persecution and genocide are still happening in the world around us, I Never Saw Another Butterfly recalls and honors those who created music and art under the most tragic of circumstances.
Terezin, (Theresienstadt in German), was a concentration camp located north of Prague in what was then Czechoslavakia. Jewish artists, musicians, scientists and scholars were thrown together in communal misery, forced to live in a “Jewish settlement” where the Nazi’s used and exploited their cultural activities as a propaganda ploy to impress visitors and inspectors. The trick worked, and the world was deceived – while in reality, the prisoners were being starved, subjected to hard labor and, ultimately, deported to the death camps. Remarkably, amidst such unspeakable horrors, tremendously creative work flourished.
This captivating program features songs written by the imprisoned composers of Terezin - Ilse Weber, Viktor Ullmann, Gideon Klein and Pavel Haas - as well as children’s poetry from the camp in a vocal setting by contemporary composer Joel Hardyk.
All performers come from the talented ranks of the Cantata Singers Ensemble.
Megan Beltran or Angelynne Hinson, soprano
Brian Church or Joshua Taylor, baritone
Judith Hill Bose, narrator
Suzanne McAllister, piano
Nancy Dimock, oboe
Directed by Alexandra Borrie
Program Notes
Terezin History
Music in Secret
Exploitation and Propaganda
Music and the Arts FlourishThe Artists of Terezin
Ilse Weber
Pavel Haas
Vicktor Ullmann