Kickstarter

Chorus Austin is raising funds to produce a live video recording of our chamber ensemble’s performance, “In Remembrance,” to be presented March 31, 2012. You can help us in creating a lasting impression of this unique concert experience. This performance by the Austin Vocal Arts Ensemble is part of Austin’s Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project, a three-month long citywide partnership promoting the protection of human rights against bigotry and hate through arts, education, and public dialogue.

Centerpiece for the performance by the 32-voice select chamber ensemble, under the direction of Chorus Austin Artistic Director Ryan Heller, is the newly commissioned work by noted American composer Robert Kyr. The Unutterable is a multi-media presentation with Kyr as narrator and Austin Rabbi Neil Blumofe as baritone cantor.

The new Kyr work is based on the poem “Death Fugue” by poet Paul Celan, who was forced to work in a labor camp for 18 months in 1942 and 1943 and whose parents died in a Nazi concentration camp.

“The work begins in silence with a striking video image, a blank sheet of music paper,” said Kyr, describing his new composition. “A hand moves into the frame and proceeds to write a single melody on the staff paper. The narrator begins to read Celan’s haunting poem.”

“Austin is extremely fortunate to host the premiere of this soul-searing work by one of the great composers of our age,” Conductor Ryan Heller said. “Robert Kyr has forged an avid following, not just as an American composer, but as one sought around the world.”

Be part of the creation of this deeply moving experience by supporting the creation of the DVD of our live performance!