Between 1941 and 1945, the concentration camp Terezín, just outside Prague, held 160,000 men, women, and children prisoners. It was a terrible place, where the Nazis warehoused Jews before sending them to Auschwitz. Simply by virtue of Terezín’s proximity to Prague and other academic and cultural centers of eastern Europe, the prisoners there included many of the most creative and accomplished individuals of their time. The Nazi regime used the creativity of the prisoners as grist for its propaganda machine, misleading a naïve world into an impression of Terezín as a benign center where Jews could live together in safety.

The prisoners had another agenda, however: keeping spirits alive and intellect intact in the darkest of times. One such prisoner, 33-year-old conductor Rafael Schächter, decided to use Verdi’s Requiem, with its unmistakable evocation of Judgment Day and divine justice, to, as one prisoner said, “sing to the Nazis what we could not say to them.”

Schächter taught the massive work to a chorus of 150 fellow prisoners, all of whom spent their days as slave laborers, and then ran to nighttime rehearsals to find sanity in the music. Schächter and his chorus performed Requiem 16 times at Terezín during 1943–44.

Although Requiem successfully bolstered the spirits of singers and listeners at Terezín, the tragic reality of their final doom was felt. Of the 160,000 inmates, including 17,000 children, most did not survive.

Conductor Murry Sidlin (Aspen Music Festival and dean of School of Music, Catholic University) has created a multimedia concert that incorporates actors, film of survivors, and original footage of Terezín under Nazi occupation into a full performance of Verdi’s monumental score. The performance will take place on the afternoon of May 17, the annual Terezín Commemorative Day, following morning ceremonies to be attended by dignitaries from around the world.

The performance will be in Terezín’s former Riding School, a large barnlike structure in the center of town that had originally been where soldiers learned to fight on horseback that the Nazis then used as a warehouse and a place where inmates worked at a number of tasks.

Choristers will arrive in Prague on May 9 from all parts of the world. After meeting for the first time, they will begin rehearsals for the momentous occasion. Mornings and evenings will be spent in rehearsals and classes, with afternoons left open for cultural and historical tours.

By midweek they will be joined by professional soloists, actors, and a symphony orchestra. By the weekend they will be in the final stages of technical rehearsals and run-throughs, culminating in the performance at 2 pm on May 17 before the assembled commemorative audience.

The Berkshire Choral Festival (BCF) is an international educational institution dedicated to enhancing the skills of choral singers, while extending the knowledge and appreciation of choral singing and its tradition to singers and audiences. It does this by establishing environments in which singers, conductors, and other music professionals can immerse themselves and flourish as musicians.

BCF is based in Sheffield, Mass. Founded in 1982, it provides a deep musical immersion experience for skilled amateur singers, complete with rehearsals, classes, lectures, and educational tours. Choristers are taught by a faculty of five professional musicians who are from Vienna, Austria; London, England; and the United States, and overseen by BCF Musical Director Frank Nemhauser.

Mrs Lussier is a former member of Newtown Choral Society and Connecticut Choral Society. She has also been involved in local theater, having portrayed Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music and Bloody Mary in South Pacific. She is also a longtime member of the St Rose Adult Choir.