Kindersang: Live Performance

This event will take place in person at the Library for the Performing Arts.

Join us for a performance of Kindersang, written by Deirdre Gribbin and performed by soprano Amanda Boyd and violinist Michelle Ross, including works from the 17th century in addition to traditional Jewish folksong. The evening includes performances of Heinrich Biber’s solo violin work based on the traditional hymn “God, Give me an Angel,” Bach’s poignant cantata seeking ‘“peace and quiet rest”’ and Joseph Pinkhof’s song, written in the Bergen-Belsen camp, all of which will prepare the listener for Kindersang based on the text of Kindertransport poet Lotte Kramer.

On November 10th, 1938, Hitler’s Kristallnacht pogrom prompted the ‘Refugee Children Movement’ that rescued 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children from occupied Europe on Kindertransport trains to the UK over a nine-month period. They traveled alone with nothing but a nametag and suitcase. The majority never saw their parents again. Poet Lotte Kramer was fifteen when she came on the last Kindertransport train. She was divided between her new life in England and a longing for her parents. Her final communications with them were restricted to Red Cross telegrams. Her poems, written directly about the period around Kristallnacht, are poignant memories from childhood. At a time when freedom of thought, and movement is challenged worldwide in relation to border crossing, and human rights, Kindersang seeks to remind us that the courage and perseverance of committed individuals can overcome the reluctance of authorities to address the suffering of refugees.

Heinrich Biber’s solo violin work “‘The Protecting Angel’ from the traditional hymn ‘God, give me an Angel’, Bach’s poignant cantata Ich Habe Genug seeking ‘peace and quiet rest’ and Joseph Pinkhof’s song, Parpar written in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp prepare the listener for ‘Kindersang’ by Irish composer Deirdre Gribbin based on poems by of Kindertransport survivor Lotte Kramer.