Birdsong (from The Terezin Suite)

for tenor and woodwind quintet (coming soon)

Terezin, a concentration camp located in a military fortress in northwestern Czechoslovakia, was unique for its high concentration of creative individuals - artists, musicians, writers, thespians and teachers. Despite the brutal Nazi regime, prisoners maintained their humanity through artistic expression. The camp is notably remembered for the prisoners' performance of Verdi's Requiem and its use in Nazi propaganda to mask Holocaust atrocities. After its liberation in 1945, over 200 poems and drawings by Jewish children - many of whom perished in Auschwitz - were recovered and preserved in the book, I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Birdsong, written anonymously, emerges as a powerful testament to hope and resilience, embodying the children's ability to preserve their spirit through art in the face of unimaginable darkness.

Commissioned by New Music Chicago’s 2025 Ear Taxi Festival, for Quintet Attacca.

Premiering October 4, 2025 in Chicago, IL.