By Alicia DesMarteau
What does music from heaven sound like? Canadian Christian composer and concertmaster Ruth Fazal may have the answer.
Oratorio Terezin is Fazal’s first major orchestral piece – one that she feels was inspired by God. Strangely enough, the piece is set in one of the darkest periods of human history – The Holocaust. The oratorio’s text is poems written by children, prisoners of the Nazi ghetto of Terezin, near Prague.
“As I read these poems,” Fazal recalls, “I felt God saying to me, “Ruth, I want you to take some of these poems and weave them together with scripture to portray my heart”.”
After three and a half years, the oratorio emerged as a piece for 200 performers. It premiered in Toronto, Canada, and is touring overseas. Fazal explains that the piece depicts God’s love for the Jewish people: “It really is an attempt to speak out His heart to His people . . . I am totally overwhelmed, really, by the love that God has for His people, the Jews.”
Tenor soloist Huw Priday, who portrays the voice of God in the piece, agrees. “That’s the whole point about the work. It’s God longing to reveal His love to His people. It’s as simple as that.”
Nearly 14,900 children from Terezin perished in the Holocaust, but their poems miraculously survived. Pivotal to the oratorio is the poem The Butterfly, which is sung by 11-year-old soloist Jakie Young, an Orthodox Jew.
“When I sing this song,” Young says, “I feel like I’m the voice that was taken away from them.”
The presence of the children’s choir is a striking reminder of the innocence lost in the Holocaust. B’nai Brith human rights coordinator Canada Anita Bromberg describes the importance of remembering this tragic period: “The years are passing, the survivors are passing away, and if we don’t learn the lesson now . . . we’re doomed to repeat the errors over and over again.”
Remembrance, in fact, is at the very heart of the oratorio.
“The opening words are amazing to me because I didn’t even understand when I put the text together,” Fazal recollects. “The first words that come out of God’s mouth are, “I remember” . . . and of course, remembering the Holocaust. That we may never forget. These are all the heart cry of the Jewish people.”
No doubt, there is no better time for remembrance than now, when anti-Semitism is once again on the rise internationally. Many see the oratorio as a critical message for Christians to support the Jewish community. Among them is B’nai Brith Canada executive vice-president Frank Dimant.
“This (piece) was written about a time when there were many Christians and the churches were full of people singing hymns to the God of Israel, but regrettably those people didn’t hear the cries of the children of Israel,” Dimant states. “We hope that this time the Christian world will stand with us, shoulder to shoulder.”
B’nai Brith Canada’s president Rochelle Wilner affirms the importance of this solidarity. “It’s so critical now in light of the current climate, vis à vis growing anti-Semitism internationally that we accept the hand that is being given to us, and that the friendship and the support is there, and it is an honour and a delight to work with our friends in the Christian community.”
Many saw the premiere performance of the Oratorio as an inspiring symbol of this partnership.
One audience member expressed his delight at the positive association between the two communities: “I think it’s a stunning achievement . . . I see here tonight people from the Jewish community, (and) from the Christian community . . . I have never seen so many friends in one place at the same time.”
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