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Articles tagged with: Auschwitz

Lyric Opera staging of Weinberg’s ‘Passenger’ casts intimate light on life, death at Auschwitz

Feb 26, 2015 – 1:22 pm
Amanda Majeski and Daveda Karanas in 'The Passenger,' by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, at Chicago Lyric Opera Feb. 2014. (Robert Kusel)

Review: The first impression of “The Passenger” by the Soviet composer Mieczysław Weinberg, whose Holocaust-inspired 1968 opera has been circulating the globe since its belated 2010 world premiere, is that of a major composer in his prime. Conducted with searing authority by Andrew Davis, the illuminating Lyric Opera of Chicago presentation of “The Passenger” seemed familiar right away. Weinberg was typically referred to as a lesser-known member of Shostakovich’s inner circle, but in fact he was on top of his world. ★★★★

Snatched from oblivion, post-Holocaust opera ‘The Passenger’ makes a rescue stop at Lyric

Feb 23, 2015 – 6:40 pm
The Passenger, Lyric Opera Chicago 2015 (Robert Kusel)

Report: “The Passenger,” a late-blooming 1968 opera by the Polish-born Soviet composer Mieczysław Weinberg, will have its Chicago Lyric Opera premiere as part of a whirlwind of introduction in Austria, Poland, England, the U.S. and Spain. Director David Pountney and author Zofia Posmysz talk about why. 

Joining revival of Soviet composer Weinberg, Lyric plans Holocaust opera ‘The Passenger’

Jan 20, 2014 – 6:45 pm
'The Passenger,' by Mieczysław Weinberg, Bregenz production, coming to Lyric Opera Chicago in 2015

Report: Mieczysław Weinberg, perhaps the best Soviet composer you never heard of, was the “other story” at a Lyric Opera of Chicago press conference Jan. 17 when a new Wagner “Ring” Cycle was announced. But Weinberg’s recently revived opera, “The Passenger,” inspired by a Holocaust novel, is making the international rounds and will arrive at the Chicago Lyric in early 2015, as excitement grows for this prolific composer and esteemed friend of Shostakovich.