Brundibar
November 15, 2019
Description
A brother and sister, Little Joe and Annette, need to buy milk for their sick mother but have no money. They see the organ-grinder, Brundibár, playing his hurdy-gurdy on the street corner and collecting money from the townspeople. The children decide that they too will sing and collect money, but they are laughed at and chased away by Brundibár.
As night approaches, a group of animals encourage the children to stand up to the organ-grinder. The next morning, with the help of the neighborhood children, they sing a charming lullaby which earns them money from the townspeople. Brundibár tires to steal their money, but after a brief chase he is caught and the children sing a song of victory.
Raise Up Your Voice
by Martha Collins (stage director) and Jesse Martins (Youth Opera Music Director)
When we first learned about Brundibár, we were profoundly moved by the history surrounding the work - that of it having been performed by children in the Terezín camp-ghetto. As we delved more into the lives and writings of these children, most of whom were murdered under the Nazi regime, we became deeply inspired and humbled by these young people who strove to stay artistically alive under such prohibitive conditions. It became important to us that the companion piece we created to go with Brundibár should not use words and stories created by us, but rather the actual words of young people. The search led us to the diaries and letters of children throughout the world written while they were living through the challenges of intolerance in its many forms.
In 1948, Winston Churchill said "Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it". It is important that we remember the stories of these children. We found wisdom in the words of these inspiring young people who were questioning the world that adults had created; these children who were able to see the world through a lens of what life could be when not limited by politics, hatred or indoctrination.