‘Defiant Requiem’ leaves audience in silent reflection

By Eileen Wingard

SAN DIEGO — The Defiant Requiem: Verdi in Terezin, the remarkable concert-drama about music in the Nazi show ghetto of Terezin, created by Conductor Murry Sidlin, is a testament to the human spirit. It exemplifies how mankind can rise above the most oppressive conditions. A choir of 150 inmates, replenished frequently because of transports to the “east,” memorized the long, complex score of Verdi’s Requiem and performed it 16 times under the inspiring leadership of Raphael Schaechter.

Through the words of survivors who had sung in the choir, through narration and film clips, we realized the life-affirming strength of this beautiful music. The Terezin singers, after hours of hard labor and poor nourishment, felt empowered to defiantly sing of their captor’s ultimate demise as stated in the Latin text.

The San Diego Master Chorale was outstanding throughout. With beautiful blend and sensitive nuances, the opening words, Requiem aeternam were magically intoned. The four soloists, Amanda Hall, soprano,  Ann McMahon Quintero, mezzo, Philip Webb, tenor, and Nathan Stark, bass, were clear and convincing in their solos and ensembles. The San Diego Symphony Orchestra, under Sidlin’s direction, performed with emotional commitment and sincerity.

Sidlin is an old friend of the orchestra and he was beloved during the years he conducted the “Classical Hits” series, his “Light Bulb” series, and as director of the Summer Pops. For his many programs, he created brilliant scripts to encompass and enlighten the music. But none has been so moving, so meaningful, as The Defiant Requiem: Verdi in Terezin. I saw it at its premiere in Portland over a decade ago, and last Thursday, in Copley Symphony Hall, Jacobs Music Center, its 30^th performance.

There were three people in the audience for whom the evening had special meaning. 101-year old Eve Wertheimer Gerstle is a survivor of Terezin who sang in the first rehearsals under Schaechter, only to be deported to Auschwitz before the first performance. “Nobody can fully understand what we went through,” she commented.

Gerhard Maschkowiski, another survivor, although not in Terezin himself, was the husband of a Terezin inmate. His wife, her parents and her sister managed to survive. Gerhard, himself, was in three labor camps and in Auschwitz. He was liberated by the Russians from a camp near the city of Breslau, weighing only 70 lbs. and unconscious when a Russian doctor had him sent to the hospital and saved his life. That was 70 years ago, on May 7^th, the evening of the performance.

For Max Schindler, who was in Terezin after the Russians had liberated it and it was serving as a processing center, the images of the ghetto brought back many memories. He and his wife, Rose, were recently in Auschwitz with other survivors and their families to commemorate the 70^th anniversary since the liberation.

This morning, I attended services with the minyan at Congregation Beth Israel. It was led by Elaine Edelman, who sings in the San Diego Master Chorale. She spoke about the deep impression the concert-drama made on her and how it dominates her thoughts. She described how she and the other chorus members felt as they finished. Verdi’s Requiem, was, after all, the Catholic Kaddish for the dead, but, as they began to file off the stage, the music changed to “Oseh Shalom,” the last words in our Hebrew Kaddish.  Projected were the number of inmates in Terezin, the number who perished in the ghetto, and the number who were killed in the ovens as the video showed inmates being deported. There was silence as the stage grew empty. We quietly contemplated the meaning of what we had experienced.

We are indebted to the Viterbi family for underwriting this significant event sponsored by the  Anti-Defamation League, with all ticket proceeds going to their Lessons From The Holocaust Fund.

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Wingard is a former violinist with the San Diego Symphony and a freelance writer who specializes in coverage of the arts.  You may comment to her at eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com or post your comments on this website provided that the rules below are observed.
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