Defiance through Art performed by the Arizona Opera

Defiance through Art performed by the Arizona Opera – Free Event, RSVP Required

Feb. 19, 7:30pm | Heard Museum, Phoenix

• A one-act opera by Viktor Ullmann with a libretto by Peter Kien. They collaborated on the work while interned in the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt (Terezín) around 1943. The Nazis did not allow it to be performed there.
• Featuring an original piece, A Beautiful Place, about an art teacher in Theresienstadt who gave hope to the children there through art by Arizona-resident and composer/pianist Craig Bohmler. Bohmler has written three operas, including Riders of the Purple Sage for Arizona Opera, and nine musicals as well as 150 art songs and numerous choral works.
• The story of the Bielski Family as told by Assiela Bielski Weinstein, daughter of Asael Bielski, who was second in command of the Bielski Partisans, will be a major part of this program.
• Operating in Western Belorussia (Belarus) between 1942 and 1944, the Bielski partisan group was one of the most significant Jewish resistance efforts against Nazi Germany during World War II. While its members did fight against the Germans and their collaborators, the Bielski group leaders emphasized providing a haven for Jews, particularly women, children, and elderly persons who managed to flee into the forests. Under the protection of the Bielski group, more than 1,200 Jews survived the war, one of the most successful rescue efforts during the Holocaust.
• In 2008, the inspiring story of the Bielski partisans was made into the motion picture ‘Defiance’, starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.