<<  -- 3 --  Kelly Ferjutz    ANNE FRANK'S BIRTHDAY

Ms Laitman, expecting to hear that her songs (or some of them) would be presented in a concert setting, was at first startled, then pleased to learn of their new incarnation. She was a willing collaborator, transposing a few songs to better fit the voices being used in the production. In addition, she composed a new ending for the final song, Echo, when all the characters come together at one time on the stage. It is this song from which the title is drawn. 'Come to me in dreams, that I may live my very life again ...'

In addition to the three vocalists, there are three instrumentalists involved in Come to Me in Dreams. Ms Laitman's Holocaust, 1944 comprises five songs written for baritone and double bass. No piano. (In fact, even though it was written for Sanford Sylvan, the internationally renowned singer of opera and concert fame, he has never sung this cycle until now.) Maximilian Dimoff, principal double bass of the Cleveland Orchestra will perform the fiendishly difficult instrumental part.

The second cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly is set to some of the surviving poems written by children at the Terezin (Theresienstadt) deportation camp before they were sent to Auschwitz. (The collection of poems and drawings by children who perished at the Nazi concentration camp has been published under the same title.) Five of the six songs in this cycle are being used, and will be sung by soprano Megan Tillman, while the saxophone accompaniment will be played by Paul Cohen.

By coincidence, all the songs for mezzo-soprano Fenlon Lamb as the Mother were written to be accompanied by piano. Judith Ryder, Director of Cleveland Opera on Tour and Music Director for this production will be at the keyboard. Among these songs are Wild Nights with text by Emily Dickinson and Echo set to a poem by Christina Rossetti.

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