A new opera, The Dialogue of Memories, premieres in Seattle on Sunday, May 17.
It is based on a book of conversations between music journalist Howard Reich and the late Holocaust survivor, educator and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
Reich credits Wiesel with helping him better understand what his own parents went through as survivors of the Holocaust.
“I spent four years with Professor Wiesel in New York and in Florida, interviewing him with my tape recorder running,” Reich said. “I was able to ask him questions. I could not ask my parents.”
Interview Highlights
The role of music in Reich's adolescence
When I was 16 years old, I went downstairs in our little Skokie home and I turned on the TV, and this movie came on “An American in Paris” with music by Gershwin, Oscar Levant playing piano, Gene Kelly dancing. What's not to love? And that moment, I realized music had to be it for me, but also there was a lot of turbulence in our house and when I was playing the piano, practicing the piano, I was not hearing a lot of that noise, and that that angst, that was my escape.
Understanding the ‘turbulence’ in his home
I would get in the middle of the night, my mother would be sitting in our living room, looking out the window, in effect, kind of keeping a vigil, keeping us safe. I thought all moms did that. I had to reinterpret it. We were not allowed to take showers in our house, only a bath. We know the implications of showers for Holocaust survivors and those who did not survive. The whole history was there, but I did not know how to interpret it as I was growing up.
Reich's friendship with Elie Wiesel
In 2012 the Chicago Tribune gave out this prestigious award, the Chicago Tribune Literary Award. And said they would like me to interview Elie Wiesel. I never even thought I would meet Elie Wiesel. He was this lionized Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, the most revered Holocaust survivor in the world. I interviewed him in New York, interviewed him in Chicago., and when I was saying farewell to him, he said to me, ‘You've got my number, right?’ He wanted to continue the conversation. And then, I had this idea: this is a book.
What opera-goers can expect
I hope they'll get a sense of what it's like to receive the wisdom of Elie Wiesel, the wisdom of all he's experienced and applying his genius to his experience. To me, Elie Wiesel in his writing and speaking is a kind of a poet. He's a poet of the Holocaust and a poet of what came after.
The Dialogue of Memories is presented by Music of Remembrance. The world premiere is Sunday at 4 p.m. at Benaroya Hall in Seattle.
