The Michigan State University College of Music will perform “I Never Saw Another Butterfly, Music of the Holocaust” at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 16 at the Fairchild Theatre in the MSU Auditorium. As part of the Joanne and Bill Church West Circle Series, this concert will feature music of and inspired by the Holocaust.
The concert opens with “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” by Ellwood Derr. This work will be performed by Melanie Helton, soprano, James Forger, alto saxophone and Deborah Moriarty, piano. The work takes the audience through five movements based on poems by children imprisoned by the Nazis in World War II. It is Derr’s most famous song cycle and is widely performed nationally and internationally.
The other work being featured on the concert is “Quartet for the End of Time” by Olivier Messiaen. The composer wrote the piece while he was being held as a prisoner of war in World War II. The German army captured Messiaen, a French soldier at the time, in June of 1940. He was inspired by text from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. The work was first performed outdoors, in the rain in front of 400 other prisoners. “Quartet for the End of Time” will be performed by I-Fu Wang, violin, Guy Yehuda, clarinet, Suren Bagratuni, cello and Ralph Votapek, piano.
“We reflect on the Holocaust through music and honor those who have been affected,” said Deborah Moriarty, chairwoman of the piano area.
Kevin Bartig, associate professor of musicology, will serve as concert guide.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, age 60 and older and $5 for students with ID and anyone under 18, and can be purchased online, by phone or at the door.
For more information on the performance, click here.