In Monday’s (11/12) Grand Rapids Press (Michigan), Dan Slane writes, “On November 16 and 17, the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus will kick off its fiftieth season with ‘We Remember,’ a peerless, two-night performance pairing Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, Reformation, with the work of renowned contemporary composer Stephen Paulus. Both works embody a vast array of complex, conflicting emotions, moving attentive listeners through intense fear, hope, heart-wrenching despair, and beauty. … Of pivotal importance is the program’s major work, Paulus’s To Be Certain of the Dawn. It serves not only as a gripping Holocaust memorial oratorio but also as an act of good interfaith on the part of the Basilica of St. Mary toward the Temple Israel, both in Minneapolis, according to the [Minnesota] Orchestra’s notes from its recording of the piece and CD release in 2009. … The enormous performance includes soloists, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Symphony Chorus, and the Youth Chorus all in mellifluous harmony. During the performance, World War II images will be shown in remembrance of the one and a half million Jewish children murdered in the Nazi camps.” Grand Rapids Symphony Music Director David Lockington leads the program.”
Posted November 13, 2012
