Diary to be performed by TSO at Thomson Hall
Oskar Morawetz' From the Diary of Anne Frank
will be performed in honor
of the composer's 70th birthday by the Toronto
Symphony at Roy Thomson
Hall on Wednesday, Jan. 14, Thursday, Jan. 15 and Saturday, Jan. 17.
Morawetz who was born in Czechoslovakia, has had more of his original compositions performed around the world than any other Canadian composer. His compositions have been presented by nearly 120 orchestras and by outstanding
conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Raphael Kubelik, Sir Adrian Boult, William Steinberg, Karel Ancerl and all the prominent Canadian conductors.
His best-known works include his First Piano Concerto, Sinfonietta for Winds and
Percussion, and his Memorial to Martin Luther King, for solo cello, winds and
percussion, commissioned in 1968 by Mstislav Rostropovich, broadcast in 24 countries
on King's 50th birthday in 1979; and his greatest work, From the Diary of Anne Frank.
The most important testimony to this work's lasting value comes from the ultimate authority on Anne - her father, the late Otto Frank, who wrote this tribute to Morawetz in 1970, shortly after its CBC premiere with soprano Lois Marshall:
"As you can imagine, I am receiving many, many letters from readers of the Diary from all over the world, and every one of them is impressed especially by certain passages. You are the first one who is struck by the feelings Anne experiences about the fate of her friend Lies, and the suffering of so many other Jews."
Some of Anne's writings to which music is set by
Morawetz include:
"I hope that if Lies lives until the end of the war that I shall be able to take her in and do something to make up for all the
wrong I ever did. Lies seems to be a symbol to me of the suffering of all my girl friends
and all the Jews. And when I pray for her, I pray for all the Jews and for all
those in need!"
This epic work received a special award from the Segal Fund in Montreal "as
the most important contribution to Jewish culture and music in Canada."
